Luke Voit took a shot at the Yankees before hitting first Padres home run

Luke Voit’s first Padres home run is an encouraging sign

The San Diego Padres haven’t made many moves since the lockout ended earlier this month, but they did make a notable trade to get New York Yankees slugger Luke Voit.

On Saturday, he hit his first home run in a Padres uniform and electrified the crowd:

But what really had people talking is what Voit said earlier in the week, when he called his former Yankees’ battery-mates “big donkeys.”

The comment was puzzling, as Voit himself is quite a large man. According to his Baseball-Reference page, he stands at 6’3″ and weighs 255 pounds. So, a smidge shorter than the 6’7″ Aaron Judge and 6’6″ Giancarlo Stanton, but it’s not like Voit was José Altuve when he stood next to them.

Also puzzling was his claim that Yankee Stadium isn’t as good for hitting as people think. According to EV Analytics’ Park Factors data, which uses 1.00 as league average, Yankee Stadium has a 1.11 HR Park Factor, tied with Coors Field as the fifth-easiest parks in which to hit a home run. Petco Park was way down the list with a below-league average 0.97.

In fact, one of the only Park Factors in which Petco outdoes Yankee Stadium is strikeouts; their 1.05 K factor is tied for second-highest, ahead of the Bronx’s 1.03.

Aaron Judge sends heartfelt message to Luke Voit after Yankees-Padres trade

Despite Voit’s puzzling comments, Judge had a nicer message in return, this week, saying his former teammate “represents the New York spirit” with his “grittiness.”

Hopefully, Voit brings that grit to the Padres lineup instead, which could use a shakeup and some bat power now that Fernando Tatis Jr. will be out for approximately three months.