Much has been said about the disappointing start to the San Diego Padres season. One of their bright spots in April was newly minted $280 million man Xander Bogaerts.
Since the calendar flipped to May though, Bogaerts has struggled mightily as the rest of the Padres lineup continues to falter. In 83 plate appearances in May, Bogaerts has a .178/.277/.260 slash line. He hit his first home run of the month on May 23 after hitting six in April.
Bogaerts reflected on his recent struggles after striking out four times in a Padres loss on Wednesday.
“I’m not helping the cause get better right now,” Bogaerts said. “It’s very frustrating. It’s very annoying. I’m extremely frustrated.”
Bogaerts mentioned similar struggles he went through last season with the Boston Red Sox.
“I’ve had plenty of struggles,” Bogaerts said. “And this is one kind of similar to last year. Up until tonight – even tonight – I’ve been seeing the ball well. It’s just my swing is not there. It’s not there.”
As June approaches, the Padres are 22-27, have the worst team batting average in the league and have scored the fifth-fewest runs. They are a far cry from the team that was three wins away from a trip to the World Series eight months ago.
More likely than not, Xander Bogaerts will find a way to get back to form and that can only be good news for the Padres. Their lineup is too talented to be this bad, but every player goes through rough patches. A lot of Padres just happen to be going through bad stretches simultaneously.
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