San Diego Padres News: Three biggest regression candidates for 2020

As we inch closer to Spring Training and the regular season, we looked at three San Diego Padres who could experience a regression in 2020.

The San Diego Padres, as a group, were in the hunt at the All-Star break last year with a 45-45 record but fell off a cliff in the second half. That was in large part due to a couple of significant injuries and lackluster second halves from several players.

Regression is an unfortunate part of the game, and often it is a result of the league figuring how to get a player out or hit particular balls off pitchers. Often it’s just dumb luck. Last year, Manny Machado was a victim who experienced a bit of a letdown year.

Fresh off signing a ten-year, $300 million deal in free agency, Machado didn’t live up to his expectations last season, posting a .256/.334/.462 line with 32 home runs and 85 RBI (109 OPS+).

It’s funny because most would be thrilled with those numbers, but that was considered a down year for Machado. It didn’t help that he led the National League in ground-into-double-plays (24), which attributed to him posting the worst OPS since 2014.

Machado would seem like a great choice for a bounceback candidate in year two as a Padre with an OPS well over .800. He, along with Fernando Tatis Jr. figure to be mainstays on the left side of the infield for the foreseeable future, so it’s important to get production from those guys.

And as we turn our attention to the rest of the roster, it begs the question of who might be in store for regression this season?