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When the San Diego Padres finished adding to their roster and their lineup, everybody was excited about four specific players: Fernando Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts, Juan Soto, and Manny Machado.
Tatis is still serving the final stages of his 80-game suspension from last year, so he will appear in MLB games in late April.
Soto is off to a somewhat discrete start with a .216 batting average and 112 wRC+ (he is usually over 150), and Machado has no homers and below-average offensive performance so far (89 wRC+).
Bogaerts has been excellent, with three homers, and Nelson Cruz has also looked good.
Still, two glove-first players have been performing at a high level with the bat: Trent Grisham and Ha-Seong Kim.
“Trent Grisham and Ha-Seong Kim do not need to be OPS-ing .900 to be extremely valuable players. Their gloves do enough work. But 10 games into the season, they’re both over .900,” Padres insider AJ Cassavell tweeted.
Trent Grisham and Ha-Seong Kim do not need to be OPS-ing .900 to be extremely valuable players. Their gloves do enough work. But 10 games into the season, they’re both over .900.
— AJ Cassavell (@AJCassavell) April 10, 2023
It’s still early and sample size will start stabilizing soon for most stats.
However, if Kim or Grisham manage to keep their OPS over .900, or even over .800, when all is said and done, they could be All-Stars.
Grisham is hitting .243/.333/.541 with three homers and his usual healthy walk rate.
The average is particularly promising, but the power has been a nice surprise for the Padres.
Kim, on the other hand, has two round-trippers and a .281/.343/.594 on the young season.
He is a strong defender, and a versatile one, too.
Both are valuable assets for the Padres because of what they do with the glove.
If they reach even league-average offense or slightly above, they could reach new levels.
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