Padres Musings: Tatis Jr. takes Paddack deep, Opening Day lineup

Fernando Tatis Jr. has been red-hot the last few days, homering off Padres Opening Day started Chris Paddack.

With less than a week until the Padres kick off the 2020 season, live game action has been limited to intrasquad matchups. Both Wednesday and Thursday nights games were televised, which provided a therapeutic couple of hours to get a sense of what the club was going to look like.

And on Saturday, Fernando Tatis Jr. gave us belated fireworks, crushing a ball off Padres’ ace Chris Paddack.

With regards to Paddack, he has, by all accounts, looked good in the exhibitions. Outside of the long ball to Tatis, Paddack struck out eight, needing just 87 pitches to get through 87 innings. He’s on track to be the Padres Opening Day starter with Dinelson Lamet going on Sunday, and Garrett Richards set to face his old team on Monday.

Speaking of, it will be good to see the Padres face another team in this final tuneup before things officially matter on Friday.

Opening Day Lineup:

MLB Writer AJ Cassavell projected the Opening Day lineup:

1. Tatis SS
2. Tommy Pham, LF
3. Manny Machado, 3B
4. Wil Myers, RF
5. Eric Hosmer, 1B
6. Ty France, DH
7. Trent Grisham, CF
8. Jurickson Profar, 2B
9. Austin Hedges, C

That would seem to make sense, with Francisco Mejia being utilized in the DH role instead of France. Of note, Hosmer has yet to record a hit in 19 at-bats against the Diamondbacks Opening Day starter Madison Bumgarner. Which means he’s due!

But seriously, other than Tatis (4-of-6), most of the Padres lineup has not had success against Bumgarner. Going through the list real quick.

1. Tatis SS (4-of-6, 1 HR)
2. Tommy Pham, LF (0-for-4)
3. Manny Machado, 3B (3-for-19, 1 HR)
4. Wil Myers, RF (8-for-47, 3 HR)
5. Eric Hosmer, 1B (0-for-15)
6. Ty France, DH (0-for-3)
7. Trent Grisham, CF (No at-bats)
8. Jurickson Profar, 2B (0-for-1)
9. Austin Hedges, C (0-for-12)