2023 San Diego Padres midseason report cards with letter grades: Pitchers

Unlike their offensive counterparts, San Diego Padres pitchers thrived overall during the first half of the season. As a unit, Padres pitchers have the sixth-best ERA (3.78), are tied with Cleveland, Milwaukee and Minnesota for third most shutouts (8), have the fourth-most quality starts (42), the fifth-best OBA (.237) and are tied with the Blue Jays for fifth-best WHIP (1.24) in all the majors. Not too bad and possibly a bit surprising to the casual baseball fan who's just peeping the standings.

Through 90 games, San Diego is four games under .500 at 43-47, 8.5 games behind the Diamondbacks and Dodgers in the NL West. To make San Diego's prospects for a postseason run all the more difficult they're 6.0 games out of a Wild Card spot and would have to leapfrog division foe San Francisco, the Phillies and Brewers in order to play past October 1. San Diego did give Padres fans a few rays of hope heading into the All-Star break winning five of six, including a sweep of the Angels. As subpar as the offense has been for most of the first half, the Padres do hold a +39 run differential so if they can step it up a few notches and their pitching holds form, the Gaslamp District could be in for a fun fall.

As the second semester of baseball begins, let's hand out some grades to the pitchers who have gotten the Padres this far.

Grading the San Diego Padres pitchers

Blake Snell

Blake Snell is having his best season since his 2018 season with the Rays, oddly enough another contract year like the one he's in now. Snell has a top ten ERA (2.85) in the league amongst starters, has the fourth-most strikeouts (132) and the second-best K/9 innings (12.1). The guy has been a stud workhorse for the Padres, having logged 98 innings thus far, the most of any Padres starter.

Amazingly Snell went all of April without a win and sported a disappointing 5.30 ERA while suffering three losses, but he quickly righted his ship in May, notching his first win on May 1 and hasn't looked back since. The big time lefty only went 2-2 in May over six starts but was a victim of a lacking Padres offense. Last month, Snell pitched to the tune of a 0.87 ERA and in two starts this month before the break he notched two wins without giving up any runs with 18 strikeouts over 11.0 innings. Over Snell's last five starts, he's 4-1 and given up only two earned runs.

To nitpick, Snell's record of 6-7 isn't exactly something to call Cooperstown over. There's surely room for improvement on his 1.22 WHIP and he's only gone over six innings once. However, if his overall trends continue and GM A.J. Preller keeps him in San Diego, then Snell could be the toast of the town come October. GRADE: B+ and a perfect score on a 10-question pop quiz away from an A-

Michael Wacha

At 8-2 with a 2.84 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP, Michael Wacha is on pace to have the best season of his 11-year career. Like Snell, Wacha's season got off to a less than desirable start as he posted a 6.75 ERA (YIKES) and struggled to get out of the fifth inning while somehow managing two wins and just one loss over five starts. Also like his mound-mate Snell, Wacha turned his season around when May hit, notching three wins and posting a near lights out 0.84 ERA. The veteran righty kept on rolling in June, going 2-1 with a 1.54 ERA over four starts and managed to keep a hot Reds team at bay over five innings picking up a win while giving up just one earned run and striking out four in his last start before going on the IL with shoulder inflammation just before the All-Star break. Aside from Cincinnati, Wacha has also been able to tame explosive offenses like Atlanta and Boston.

Outside of his poor start, the only other real flaw in Wacha's game is that he tends to get roughed up by batters when facing them for the third time in a game ... but who amongst us doesn't, am I right? All lame joking aside, Wacha has been solid for San Diego and given that he's only in the first year of a four year deal he could be a true cornerstone of the rotation for a while. GRADE: A-

Joe Musgrove

Musgrove signed a five-year, $100 million contract last August and this season he's earning every penny. At 8-2, the SoCal native is on track for the most season wins of his career. His ERA and WHIP are up a bit from his first two seasons in San Diego, but his K/BB ratio (4.6) is the best of his eight years in the Bigs. Musgrove's two losses came in back-to-back outings back in mid-May to the Red Sox and Dodgers. Musgrove has won five of his last six starts and has only given up more than two earned runs once since those two losses in May, a win against Cleveland where he gave up three runs. The veteran right-hander had a 2.25 ERA in June and, in two July starts before the break, his ERA was 0.69 in two wins against the Angels and Mets. The $100 million man is also stepping up his endurance as the season has progressed. Since May, Musgrove has failed to get to the sixth inning only once. GRADE: A-

Seth Lugo

After seven years with the Mets (which I'm sure is not a good as "Seven Years in Tibet"), Seth Lugo is in his first of a two-year deal with the Padres. Lugo's first few months in San Diego has been the definition of up and down. Prior to an impressive outing against the Angels before the All-Star break, Lugo had not won a game since May 3. A main reason for that drought of victory was a month-long stint on the IL with a calf injury. Heading into the second half of the season, Lugo's record sits at 3-4 with a 3.39 ERA and carries a 1.24 WHIP. He's had some tough outings against weak teams like Kansas City and Washington, but has pitched well against top teams in Arizona, Atlanta and the Reds. Since coming back from injury, Lugo has one loss over four starts while only giving up four earned runs with 21 strikeouts to just two walks. Out of the veteran righty's 12 starts, seven of those count as quality ones so there's that. GRADE: C

Yu Darvish

Whatever the opposite of teacher's pet is, Yu Darvish is that. Before I schedule an emergency parent-teacher conference over him, let's get the particulars out of the way. Over 15 starts, Darvish is 5-6 with a 4.87 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP. His numbers this season so far make last season's solid numbers feel as far away as his days as a Ranger. Darvish limped into the All-Star break with two losses over three poor starts that included giving up six earned runs to Tampa Bay and a five-inning, three-earned run, three-walk "effort" to the lowly Mets, both performances at home.

In June, Darvish was 2-2 with a 5.40 ERA and May wasn't any better as he also went 2-2 posting a subpar 5.74 ERA. Oddly enough, Darvish's season started out fairly decent as he went 1-2 with a 3.60 ERA over five starts and, in three of those games, he only gave up one earned run.

That's where Darvish's first half highlights stop. The 36 year-old has had poor outings against below average offenses like Kansas City, the Rays, the Rockies, Yankees and the Mets ... TWICE! Yikes. I'm not one to bad mouth in public, but it's really starting to feel like San Diego might choke a bit on the six-year/$108 million contract Darvish signed in February. GRADE: D+