Yonder Alonso Feels Healthy But Does It Matter?

The Padres had injuries all over the diamond. One of the injuries they had was at first base with Yonder Alonso. He only played in 84 games last year, hitting .240/.285/.397 with seven homers and 27 RBI. The Padres have added outfielders and a third baseman and new catchers, but they haven’t touched first base.

According to UT-San Diego’s Dennis Lin, Alonso finally feels healthy. Alonso had season ending surgery repairing a forearm tendon in August. This is what he told Lin:

"“I feel 100 percent, making strides toward obviously being ready for spring training,” Alonso said. “I feel amazing. … I’m pain-free, which, for me, my goodness, was like taking a monkey off my back. It was a stressful period I went through.”"

Alonso doesn’t need to hit 30 plus homers anymore with all the talent around him. He is the only left-handed hitting regular right now, so he will have to provide some sort of punch. Even if he can’t hit a ton of homers, extra base pop from down in the lineup will help.

New hitting coach, and former teammate, Mark Kotsay will work with him soon.

"“I’m very happy and very excited for not only how I feel but for all the things that have been going on with the team,” said Alonso, who is scheduled to arrive in San Diego this week for a few days of working with hitting coach Mark Kotsay. “It’s been a lot of fun to watch. … I want to be able to be myself and be able to help the team win.”"

The Padres will need something from Alonso. If they don’t, they’ll look to Tommy Medica and sleeper candidate Alex Dickerson. For his and the Padres’ sake, hopefully Alonso is healthy and ready to go.