Padres Slugger Admits He Lost His Love for Baseball Last Few Years

Apr 29, 2025; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts (2) is congratulated by Gavin Sheets (30) and Tyler Wade (14) after scoring during the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Denis Poroy-Imagn Images | Denis Poroy-Imagn Images

A surprisingly key bat for the San Diego Padres' early season success has spoken about the challenges he faced in previous seasons.

Over the offseason, the Padres signed outfielder Gavin Sheets to a minor league deal, giving him a chance to revive his career prospects.

He had such an impressive spring that he made the Opening Day roster and has been a mainstay in the Padres' lineup, standing out as one of the better hitters aside from the team's stars.

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Sheets joined the Chicago White Sox, who selected him as a second-round pick. Although he had a promising rookie season, he struggled to be productive from 2022 to 2024.

San Diego seemingly recognized untapped potential and took a chance on Sheets, which has paid off significantly.

Gavin Sheets signed this offseason for 1.6 million

Here is where he ranks among all MLB DHs:

142 wRC+, 6th among all MLB DHs
.374 wOBA, 7th among all MLB DHs
.858 OPS, 6th among all MLB DHs

His current 0.8 fWAR is already a new career highpic.twitter.com/tbrYpJybWi

— Clark Fahrenthold (@CFahrenthold11) May 12, 2025

Reflecting on his tumultuous journey in the major leagues so far, Sheets spoke with the San Diego Union-Tribune's Annie Heilbrunn to share how dark the low points of his career became.

"Yeah, it was tough. You know, 2022 we were right in the mix of things. And then Tony left because of health problems at the end of that year, and him and I were really close. And ‘23 and ‘24 was kind of a whirlwind, for me personally and for us as an organization in Chicago," he told Helibrunn.

"I definitely lost my love for baseball a little bit. It just became a dark cloud showing up to the ballpark every day for multiple different reasons. It was hard. It was hard to produce, it was hard to, you know, to think about, ‘Is this still what I want to do?’ And that was something that I took a step back from this offseason. Got my love back for baseball, and coming here was a true blessing."

In his bounce-back season, Sheeets is batting .291 with an on-base percentage of .345 and a slugging percentage of .465 in 127 at-bats, contributing five home runs and 22 RBIs.

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After two seasons of below-replacement-level performance, he has a 0.6 WAR through a quarter of the season and a wRC+ of 128, which is above average.

He is surpassing FanGraphs' projection model by a considerable amount, exceeding any expectations that anyone could have had for the lefty hitter.

Where would this Padres team be without Gavin Sheets?

What a solid pickup pic.twitter.com/7gRiGmePfD

— SleeperPadres (@SleeperPadres) May 3, 2025

Sheets is only 29 years old and is set to enter arbitration this upcoming offseason, becoming a free agent in a couple of seasons.

The Padres have given Sheets a new lease of life in the majors, and it will be up to him to make the most of his chance and continue to repay their faith.

For more Padres news, head over to Padres on SI.