{"id":115058,"date":"2026-03-02T20:59:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T01:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=115058"},"modified":"2026-03-02T20:59:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T01:59:49","slug":"padres-hope-offeason-moves-fix-past-woes-against-left-handers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/03\/02\/padres-hope-offeason-moves-fix-past-woes-against-left-handers\/","title":{"rendered":"Padres Hoping Offseason Moves Fix Past Woes Against Left-Handers"},"content":{"rendered":"

In three short weeks, the San Diego Padres will open the 2026 season by facing the most fearsome left-handed pitcher in all of Major League Baseball. The two-time reigning American League Cy Young Award<\/a> winner, Tarik Skubal<\/a>, will take the mound for the Detroit Tigers on March 26.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s already going to be a David and Goliath-esque game. Skubal wrought havoc on the greatest lineups in the sport last year. And the Padres, though talented, are not one of them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Plus, the number two option in Detroit\u2019s rotation is free-agency pickup<\/a> Framber Valdez<\/a>. The left-hander is one of the sport\u2019s premier players and one of the best ground ball-inducing pitchers in the game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To add insult to injury, the Friars have struggled mightily against left-handed pitching in recent years, and Skubal isn\u2019t just some lefty. He may be the most dominant pitcher on the planet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How can San Diego possibly hope to win against that? They\u2019ll be lucky to eke out of opening weekend without getting swept. Here are some moves that will (hopefully) fix the Padres’ problems against left-handers this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The
Jul 6, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) throws a pitch during the fourth inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Padres Hoping for Better Luck Against Left-Handers in 2026<\/h2>\n

Free Agency Pickups Have Changed the Clubhouse Landscape<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Oddly enough, General Manager A.J. Preller has yet to make a trade this offseason. If he doesn\u2019t make one before Opening Day, it would be the first time that happened in his Padres tenure.<\/span><\/p>\n

Preller has instead focused on free agent additions, signing Miguel Andujar<\/a>, Nick Castellanos<\/a>, Ty France<\/a>, Jose Miranda<\/a>, Sung-Mun Song, Samad Taylor<\/a>, and recent pickup Alex Verdugo<\/a> for the San Diego offense.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Each of these players (apart from Verdugo, who has yet to report to spring training) has managed to make an impact in Cactus League play thus far. Of the seven, Miranda<\/a> and Taylor have been the most offensively robust.<\/span><\/p>\n

Small Pickups Paying Major Dividends<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Miranda and Taylor were both picked up on minor league deals by the Padres, being issued non-roster invites to spring training. Since then, the two have raked, hitting .412 and .400, respectively, through eight Cactus League contests.<\/span><\/p>\n

Taylor has mostly been seen as a contact-first speedster, whereas Miranda is a corner infielder with some power. But, of the two, Taylor has the better splits against lefties.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So far, he has managed to record a .500\/.400\/.750 slash line against left-handers compared to a .364\/.462\/.455 versus righties. And, while he\u2019s been raking across the board this spring, his real talent lies in facing lefties.<\/span><\/p>\n

If Taylor keeps up this production, he\u2019ll easily earn a spot on the Padres’ Opening Day roster bench, possibly being used as a pinch-hit opportunity against some of the aforementioned Tigers left-handers.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Four Million Dollar Man<\/strong><\/h3>\n

While Taylor marks a welcome surprise this spring, the real tell that Preller is targeting a solution for lefty pitching comes in the signing of former rookie superstar Miguel Andujar.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Andujar had a renaissance year in 2025, compiling a .318 batting average across 321 at-bats while splitting time between the Athletics and the Cincinnati Reds. Apart from that great stat line, he was signed for one reason: he rakes against lefties.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Andujar\u2019s .318 batting average last year was ridiculous, his splits against lefties were even more so. He finished with a slash line of .389\/.409\/.578 against left-handed pitching. If he can replicate that level of production at the DH position, or as a backup outfielder, San Diego will have made one of the savviest signings of the offseason.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back to the Skubal Problem<\/strong><\/h3>\n

All that\u2019s well and good, but can the Padres actually hope to best Skubal come March 26? Honestly, probably not. He is still the two-time reigning AL Cy Young winner, so it’s not going to be an easy matchup. He\u2019s more dominant than just about any pitcher on planet Earth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But, although they likely won\u2019t torch the Tigers ace, they\u2019ve done enough to remain competitive. They have the talent, and new hitting coach Steven Souza Jr.<\/a> has done a terrific job thus far of changing the San Diego hitting philosophy to one that prioritizes catching mistakes and torching them. Whatever happens come Opening Day, one thing\u2019s certain: it\u2019ll be a fantastic game to watch.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n


Main Photo Credit: \u00a9 Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In three short weeks, the San Diego Padres will open the 2026 season by facing the most fearsome left-handed pitcher in all of Major League Baseball. The two-time reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, Tarik Skubal, will take the mound for the Detroit Tigers on March 26.\u00a0 It\u2019s already going to be a David […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5784,"featured_media":115062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30,1071,35],"tags":[900,2359,5781,1490,1094,5873,3082,5099],"class_list":["post-115058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-padres","category-mlb","category-news","tag-alex-verdugo","tag-framber-valdez","tag-jose-miranda","tag-miguel-andujar","tag-nick-castellanos","tag-samad-taylor","tag-tarik-skubal","tag-ty-france"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5784"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115058"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115063,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115058\/revisions\/115063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}