ARLINGTON, Texas — Xander Bogaerts is about to begin a rehabilitation journey.
“I’m ready to go,” he said Tuesday afternoon.
Following a CT scan on Monday, the team agrees he is ready to return to play.
The schedule Bogaerts has been on since breaking a bone in his left shoulder while diving for a ball at second base on May 20 has been more aggressive than doctors had projected. But everyone is now on the same page and Bogaerts will likely join Triple-A El Paso in the next few days to begin playing.
Bogaerts remains aspiring to return to the big league club before the All-Star break, possibly for the Braves-Padres series that begins July 12 at Petco Park. That would be somewhere between his goal of returning after a month and the medical staff’s projection of two months or more.
Padres manager Mike Shildt said there is “no timetable” for Bogaerts to be activated. But team officials have expressed their belief that he will need anywhere from a week to 10 days to rehab.
Looking ahead to the “long haul”
Manny Machado served as the Padres’ designated hitter for the fourth time in five games Tuesday.
“We’re thinking long-term,” he said. “We’ll try to keep me healthy throughout the year and keep me in the lineup. So as long as we can get a good stretch of days off, everything will work out at the end of the year.”
Machado didn’t specifically say his surgically repaired right elbow was bothering him after playing third base for six straight days. But even with two days off since Thursday, he has been limited to hitting in all but one of the team’s five games over the past week.
“My body is always barking,” Machado said, smiling. “This is just to keep me healthy. It’s a long season.”
Fussy Hitter
Ha-Seong Kim has always been among the most selective hitters in the major leagues.
This season, its selectivity is even more striking.
No qualified hitter in the major leagues has swung at fewer pitches in the strike zone than Kim in 2024.
Entering play Tuesday, he had swung at just 51.6 percent of the pitches he had seen in the zone. He also appears more disciplined outside the zone, swinging at just 17.9 percent of those pitches, which ranks fifth in the majors.
From his rookie season in 2021 through 2023, Kim swung at 56.4 percent of pitches in the zone (seventh in MLB) and 22.5 percent of pitches outside the zone (36th).
“I think there’s always room for improvement,” Kim said through interpreter David Lee. “But I think every year I’ve seen better numbers as far as not swinging at bad pitches. So I think that’s a positive thing to keep in mind.”
The 2024 season has been a process. Kim’s overall numbers are down. He finished June hitting .228/.336/.388 with 10 homers. That puts him slightly ahead of pace to surpass his home run total (17) from last year, but well below his cumulative numbers (.260/.351/.398) of what were career highs across the board in 2023.
“It’s true that the offense hasn’t lived up to my expectations,” Kim said. “We’re just past the halfway point and I think it will get better with time.”
Kim has been even more selective lately, swinging at 50 percent of pitches in the zone and 16 percent outside it over the past 25 games.
At first, that translated into a lot of walks — 11 of them against just seven hits in 58 plate appearances from June 4-20. Now, his hitting numbers are on the rise. Kim entered Tuesday’s game riding a nine-game hitting streak, during which he was batting .344 (11-for-32) with a .400 on-base percentage.
“There’s a lot of things that are going really well for Kimmy,” Shildt said over the weekend. “You know, she’s always taken her walks. But now she’s narrowed the zone down even more, which allows her to get good pitches to hit… So it’s a really good combination.”
Wanting more
Eguy Rosario was excited to take the next step toward his goal.
“I want to be a super utility player,” he said Tuesday before taking the field for pregame work.
To that end, Rosario continues to work in the outfield before games. On Tuesday, he threw from right field during drills for the first time. Then, he followed fly balls into center field during batting practice. Rosario has looked natural running after balls and has a strong arm.
“I like it,” he said of the field, where he began asking the Padres to try him out two offseasons ago. “It’s fun.”
Shildt said Rosario, who has only played second, third and shortstop in the major or minor leagues, could be used in the outfield at any time in an emergency or after pinch-hitting.
Keynote USA
For the Latest Sports News, Follow Keynote USA Sports on Twitter.