The old saying goes something like this: you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
Fortunately for the Padres, this really doesn't apply in baseball. You actually get four or five chances to make a first impression on most nights. But the Padres still have failed to make good on most of theirs. To put it another way, the Friars are last when it comes to guys who bat first.
Even with Fernando Tatis, Jr.'s 2-for-4 performance Thursday night against the Cincinnati Reds, Padre lead-off hitters simply haven't been getting on. Through 20 games this season, San Diego is hitting .188 out of the leadoff spot and sports a paltry .244 on-base percentage. Padres leadoff guys, the guys who are supposed to jump-start rallies, have drawn a grand total of only six walks the entire season and have stolen only one base. Rickey Henderson numbers these are not.
Nobody given the chance has done a good job. The veteran free agent Ian Kinsler was first to be entrusted in this role, and he hit .158. Manuel Margot has had his shot as well, and though batting .250 while batting first, the young center fielder still doesn't do much of a job when it comes to working counts. He has drawn just one walk in the leadoff spot. Luis Urias went 0-for-5 in his one leadoff shot, and Wil Myers turned in an 0-for-4.
This, as much as anything, explains the Padres offensive woes so far this season. The 11-9 record is a product, mostly, of the young pitching, which was supposed to be the team's number one concern in 2019. It's not No. 1 any longer. And don't think that the Padres aren't aware of it.
Manager Andy Green said the team's decision this weekend to try Tatis, Jr. -- a 20-year-old rookie and the Padres' youngest leadoff hitter since the early days of Roberto Alomar -- came down to the fact that Tatis performed well in the role last season at Triple-A El Paso. Don't buy it. The reason Tatis, Jr. has been thrust into this spot is frankly a move made mostly in desperation.
The Padres have tried everything they can think of so far to get a jump-start at the top of the lineup. They didn't want to have to expose Tatis, Jr., in his first season, to such a glorified role quite yet. But they've been left with little choice.
It's definitely something to keep an eye on moving forward. While it's true that leadoff hitters are not as important as they once were, like in the glory days of Henderson and others who routinely would work counts, draw walks and steal bases such as Tim Raines or Vince Coleman, it's still nice to have somebody on base to open an inning.
Or is it? On Thursday night, for example, the Padres put their leadoff runner on base in six of the nine innings against the Reds, yet still managed to score only one run. But don't get fooled by that. Eventually, more leadoff guys on simply leads to more runs being scored and more games being won.
The Padres need to find a solution to this issue. Maybe even first, before they do anything else.