San Diego Padres: Breaking Out The Bats Will Be Tough Against Mets

The San Diego Padres are looking to break out of their offensive funk, however, that may prove difficult against this New York Mets pitching staff.

On yesterday’s off-day, we highlighted just how much the San Diego Padres offense has struggled thus far in 2018. Home runs are down and strikeouts are up considerably, compared to 2017, as the Padres have squared off against one of the more daunting schedules through the first month of the season.

This Friar’s offense will have their work cut out for them against the visiting New York Mets. Our co-editor, Tim Ryder, previewed the series pitching matchup earlier today in this post. Now, let’s break down how the current group of San Diego hitters has fared against the Mets’ probable pitchers.

San Diego Padres hitters haven’t had a lot of success against Mets’ pitching.

Joining the Padres by way of the Philadelphia Phillies, Freddy Galvis has seen his fair share of Jacob DeGrom. He’s the only Friar hitter with much success against the surging New York pitcher. In 25 at-bats, Galvis has eight hits, all singles.

As a unit, DeGrom has limited these Padres’ hitters to a .235/.287/.333/.624 slash line while giving up just two doubles, two home runs, and six walks. They have fallen victim to a DeGrom strikeout 21 times.

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Wil Myers, who has been hot in his limited playing time this season, is 1-9 off DeGrom with a home run. The Padres will be leaning on Myers to keep up his hot hitting ways as they wait for hitters like Manuel Margot to find his groove.

DeGrom has struck out nearly 32% of hitters while allowing a .212 batting average on the year. His 49% ground ball rate and 32% soft-contact rate don’t bode well for San Diego hitters, however, things have to turn around eventually, right?

San Diego hitters haven’t seen much of Jason Vargas or Zack Wheeler.

As for Saturday’s opponent, Jason Vargas, many San Diego hitters will enter the game having no or very little experience against him. Last year’s MLB leader in wins (18) who posted a career high in strikeouts (134), has limited Eric Hosmer to just one hit in 13 at-bats, over the course of his career.

Chase Headley, Wil Myers, and A.J. Ellis are the only other hitters to face Vargas, all with little or no success.

Wheeler, who wasn’t on the Mets’ 25-man out of spring, has struck out Padres’ hitters in 36% of the at-bats against him. Chase Headley is the only current Friar with much success, going 3-8 with a double and one walk. Don’t be shocked to see Headley in the lineup on Sunday.

Next: The Padres Should Trade For Matt Harvey

The San Diego Padres have an all-time winning record against only five teams, one of those being the New York Mets. At home, the Padres are 134-111 against the Mets. We’ll see if this offense can break out of their slump against a surging opponent.