San Diego Padres: Can Hunter Renfroe Compete in This Outfield?

With the encouraging play of the San Diego Padres’ young outfield as of late, how will Huner Renfroe fit into the puzzle when he returns?

Travis Jankowski, Manuel Margot, Franchy Cordero, and now, Franmil Reyes. To say that the San Diego Padres have a crowded outfield would be an understatement. And it seems as though it’s been the major concern of the team for the past few weeks. Though at the same time it’s a great problem to have. Too much young talent to make room for.

This doesn’t even include the fact that Hunter Renfroe is yet to return from his stint on the DL. The question is, can Renfroe’s numbers compete with this young outfield at the plate upon that return.

His slash line before his injury looks as follows: .200 /.281/.440 with an OPS of .721. Jankowski, who has technically been filling in for Renfroe, has absolutely exploded over these past seven games with a line of .375/.500/.500 he’s more than thriving in the leadoff spot, and he’s making Eric Hosmer better at the plate as well.

The Padres have options, that’s for sure

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Franchy Cordero looks as though he’s starting to break out with an OPS of .780 on the year so far.

Reyes and Margot are on the lower end of some of this blooming outfield, but the talent is certainly there if given the chance to develop.

Last season he finished 6th in Rookie of the Year voting and his final slash line stacked up as 263/.313/.409, which was definitely superior to Renfroe’s 2017.

What about Froe?

Hunter Renfroe is 26 years old and only seems as though he’s been around longer than that because of all this new young talent that has recently come up from El Paso.

He was absolutely spectacular in 2016 but only played 11 games that year. 2017 was more of his first full season and in 122 games he put up a slash line of .231/.284/.467.

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‘Froe is going to have to come out of the gate, guns blazing if he wants to go back to being the Padres everyday guy. It’s going to be far more difficult now for him than before with all this talent to compete with. His .284 OBP won’t cut it anymore. Renfroe is going to to have to make his mark now and prove he’s worth keeping going forward.