San Diego Padres: An Advanced Look at Offensive Problems

The San Diego Padres find themselves in a much closer division than most had anticipated. Let’s see what they do with it.

The San Diego Padres have been making the most out of a young roster littered with veterans. After some dreadful stretches that saw them practically beg for a break at times, the Friars have been playing competent baseball as of late and find themselves within reach of a winning record.

For the Padres to turn that pipe dream of competing in what was considered one of the toughest divisions in MLB before the season (yes, it’s still a pipe dream) into a more-graspable reality, they’ll need to improve on several very important facets of their game.

Let’s summarize the team’s conventional statistics this season. In the traditional offensive categories of batting average (.227), on-base percentage (.294), and slugging percentage (.363), the Padres rank 28th, 29th, and 29th in all of baseball, respectively.

Clearly, work needs to be done here. But the underlying advanced ailments that the Friars suffer from are what really have been affecting their productivity, in this writer’s opinion.

Analyzing the San Diego Padres’ inefficiency at the plate

Among all thirty MLB teams, the San Diego Padres rank near the bottom of the rung in all major (traditional) statistical categories, as we just discussed.

Once we take a look at the Padres’ advanced stats, we start to get a better idea of why they’ve been so ineffective in the batters’ box.

The Friars’ 8.0 walk percentage ranks 22nd among all MLB teams (Phillies lead with 10.8) and their swinging-strike percentage is at 11.8 percent. Clearly, the Padres need to be more patient and focus on making contact.

Where this leads though, is even more interesting. The team ranks in the middle of the pack (12th) in swinging at pitches outside of the zone (29.4 percent; Tigers are the worst offenders at 33.7) but are 19th in swinging at pitches that are in the strike zone (66.2; Braves lead, 71.0).

More from Friars on Base

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• Fernando Tatis Jr. may not take to outfield move after Xander Bogaerts addition
• Padres News: Fernando Tatis Jr. trade rumors, Seth Lugo chase, Manny Machado
• Padres barely missed out on high-end veteran starting pitcher

Wild enough, the Padres are showing decent patience to lay off of pitches outside of the zone, but are hesitating to pull the trigger on good pitches. My amateur advice, be a little more aggressive, boys.

Padres do have one thing going for them

When the Friars put the ball in play, they’re actually a very average-hitting team (.292 BABIP is tied for fifteenth in MLB with Milwaukee).

If they can maximize the potential damage by putting more guys on base (by being more patient), they could probably ride their 3-for-10-ish BABIP to another run-or-so per game. That would be helpful.

With the increased effectiveness of Clayton Richard and Tyson Ross, as well as the top-five in MLB San Diego bullpen, more runs could be the catalytic ingredient to this bundt cake that Preller & Co. Artisan Bakers are whipping up (second Preller & Co. reference today; though I’m probably the only one counting).

Next: Ross Was Great Yesterday, But What's to Come?

Let’s hope that Andy Green, Skip Schumaker, Matt Stairs, and Mark McGwire are preaching these basic tenets of productivity to the young, still very malleable, San Diego Padres.