SAN DIEGO — Backup catcher Kyle Higashioka started 14 of the San Diego Padres’ first 52 games. A solid defender, he has since started seven of 17 in part because he has been hitting better — Higashioka, who went seven consecutive starts without a hit last month, has homered in three of his past 14 at-bats — and in part because Luis Campusano hasn’t been hitting much.
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Campusano followed a 2-for-40 slump with three hits Friday and an RBI single Sunday, but even before his recent cold spell, he did not resemble the offensive threat who slugged .491 in 49 games last season. Through May 19, Campusano was hitting .261 with a .421 slugging percentage. Now, Campusano is hitting .234 and slugging .356. Among catchers with at least 100 plate appearances, he ranks 28th in OPS. And, largely because he remains a below-average defender, he is 33rd at his position in FanGraphs’ wins above replacement.
Padres officials have frequently pointed out that Campusano, 25, is attempting his first full big-league season as a primary catcher. The team has been pleased with less quantifiable aspects of his catching, including his management of a pitching staff that entered Sunday with a 3.87 ERA.
“Campy’s got a lot on his plate,” Padres hitting coach Victor Rodriguez said. “He’s got catching. He’s got running the game. So, there’s a lot of things in his head besides hitting. Being able to separate those two things, I think he’s learning that. Especially with the hitting part, it’s slowing things down. Avoid the high effort level to hit the ball hard. Use the field, stay short to the ball, and all those things lately — he’s been doing a good job with it. And you saw (Friday) he spread the ball around, staying nice and short. That’s the big thing.”
Even when Campusano was hitting earlier in the season, his underlying numbers on offense were cause for concern. His expected slugging percentage is well below .400, and he began the week in the bottom 22 percent of the majors in hard-hit percentage and chase percentage. Have the Padres considered asking Campusano to simplify a swing that contains a lot of moving parts?
“All the time,” Rodriguez said. “But when you get a guy that works his butt off the whole winter working on those things, it’s tough for him to go, ‘Oh, let me eliminate all the work that I did to simplify things.’ Eventually, he’s going to make those adjustments, realizing, ‘I’m going to compete. I need to stay here. What are the things I need to do?'”
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More significant swing adjustments might need to wait until the offseason. Despite relatively disappointing contributions on offense, the Padres have shown they can compete with the pairing of Campusano and Higashioka. But, with Campusano still learning at the highest level and Ethan Salas still early in his development, the organization is still waiting for a reliably productive starting catcher.
Matt Waldron’s growing confidence
In Sunday’s 9-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, Adam Mazur made his second big-league start and lasted only three innings as he continued to struggle with a lack of control. Mazur, who had successfully worked around four walks in his debut, surrendered eight runs on eight hits and three walks.
Of course, patience is required with young pitchers. In Saturday’s 13-1 win over the Diamondbacks, almost a year after he reached the majors, Matt Waldron supplied the latest reminder of how far he has come.
Waldron logged a third consecutive start in which he went at least six innings and allowed no more than one run. He lowered his ERA to 3.76. In six outings since Waldron gave up eight runs in three innings against the Diamondbacks last month, the knuckleballer has compiled a 1.78 ERA, 39 strikeouts and eight walks while demonstrating unprecedented confidence in his signature pitch.
“Really, I’m just throwing it in there right now,” Waldron said. “Until I’m giving up serious damage is when I’ll make an adjustment. But I’m throwing it hard, I’m throwing it slow and I’m making them respect it.”
Matt Waldron Knuckleball…
with 22 Inches of run 😲 pic.twitter.com/GJxVt9NzZT
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 9, 2024
Across his first seven starts of the season, Waldron threw 56 percent of his knuckleballs for strikes. He has since thrown 62 percent of his knuckleballs for strikes. It’s been a modest uptick, but Waldron has consistently gotten ahead in counts, giving him more margin to deploy the unpredictable movement of his best weapon. Overall this season, opponents are hitting .206 and slugging .294 against Waldron’s knuckler.
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Saturday, Waldron flummoxed the Diamondbacks for four perfect innings before loading the bases with no outs in the fifth. Four batters later, he emerged from the jam with only one run allowed. Each of the final two outs was induced with a knuckleball.
“He’s done an incredible job,” Padres infielder Jake Cronenworth said. “It’s not the easiest thing to throw a knuckleball, especially with runners in scoring position, a guy on third base, and it just seems like every outing he keeps getting more and more comfortable.”
Waldron’s emergence as one of the more effective back-end starters in baseball has buoyed a rotation missing its two most experienced pitchers. The Padres continue to have interest in Chicago White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet and other trade candidates, but San Diego’s need for another starter is not yet dire. Since Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish returned to the injured list, the rotation has produced a 3.71 ERA in eight starts.
Slugging is back
On May 12 and May 13, for just the seventh time in Petco Park history, the Padres hit at least three home runs on back-to-back days. On Friday and Saturday, they did it again while scoring double-digit runs on consecutive nights at Petco Park for the second time ever. And between May 14 and Thursday, San Diego suffered from a serious power outage, tallying 12 home runs across 22 games.
“We’re back to that spot where we’re doing damage and still getting our hits, using the whole field,” manager Mike Shildt said. “So, clearly, it’s a good brand of baseball.”
The Padres lead the majors in batting average and recently outhit their opponents in each game of a five-game losing streak, but they had not done nearly enough to capitalize on a steady stream of singles. In Sunday’s defeat, resurgent right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. extended a career-best hitting streak to 15 games with his 12th home run of the season. Left fielder and fellow All-Star candidate Jurickson Profar hit his 10th home run, surpassing his total from 2023. Shortstop Ha-Seong Kim went deep Friday and Saturday to record home runs in consecutive games for the second time in his career. Cronenworth on Saturday clubbed his first lefty-on-lefty homer of the season.
The short-handed offense could use more impact. Second baseman Xander Bogaerts is out with a fractured shoulder, and third baseman Manny Machado remains day to day with a strained hip flexor. Machado pinch hit Thursday but did not start any of the past four games. While the Padres continue to search for pitching reinforcements ahead of the July 30 trade deadline, they also would like to add another bat.
(Photo of Luis Campusano hitting an RBI single Sunday: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)