The San Diego Padres spent $280 million to bring in Xander Bogaerts before the 2023 campaign, making him their starting shortstop.
He had replaced Fernando Tatis Jr., whose arm and overall skillset is best suited for the outfield.
However, now that Mike Shildt is in town to be the manager, the organization is announcing a change.
“Mike Shildt announced that Xander Bogaerts will move to second base this season to make way for Ha-Seong Kim to play shortstop,” Talkin’ Baseball tweeted.
Mike Shildt announced that Xander Bogaerts will move to second base this season to make way for Ha-Seong Kim to play shortstop pic.twitter.com/csDHBEbnv5
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) February 16, 2024
Both are fine players: Bogaerts is universally regarded as the better hitter, while Kim gets the edge in the fielding department.
Kim has played shortstop in the past and has excelled at almost every position he has been deployed in with San Diego.
Bogaerts, on the other hand, has been raising questions with his defense for years now.
Outs Above Average (OAA) liked him in 2023, with 3.
However, he had a -4 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) in 1,285.2 innings at shorsttop.
153.1 frames were enough for Kim to put up 3 DRS at shortstop in 2023.
The “demotion” of Bogaerts to second base and the team’s decision to have Kim play shortstop will improve the overall defensive outlook of the Padres.
They lost too many close games last year and they are checking every detail they can improve to prevent that from happening again.
Even though they lost too many important players this offseason – most notably Juan Soto, Blake Snell, Seth Lugo, and Josh Hader – the Padres brought in some people and intend to be competitive in 2024.
This decision proves it.
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