Shildt Says: Discussing Tony Gwynn Opening Day, Dylan Cease, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Modern Batting Orders
For most people in baseball, Opening Day marks a milestone. But Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn was not a huge fan of the ceremonies and trappings of Opening Day.
Gwynn would look around the clubhouse on Opening Day and take note of the media members who wouldn’t be there for game two, three, four …
Gwynn always celebrated the second day of the season when the real routine of baseball began. Day Two became “Tony Gwynn Opening Day.” And over the years, the Padres have come around to recognize “Tony Gwynn Opening Day” as a tribute to Mr. Padre.
“I can see that,” Padres’ manager Mike Shildt said Friday during his “Tony Gwynn Opening Day” pregame media session.
“Opening Day is special,” Shildt continued. “But to get into the every-day grind. Here we are at game two and then we go on to game three. All the circumstances will be different and we’ll just be ready to compete and win the day.”
The Padres starter Friday night at Petco Park on “Tony Gwynn Opening Day” is Dylan Cease. Shildt spent considerable time discussing Cease and the pitcher’s two new weapons — a changeup and two-seam fastball.
“It’s a really good feeling having Dylan on the mound,” said Shildt. “We have confidence in all our guys. But Dylan is a guy who we feel really good about when he takes the mound. He had a really good spring training and we’re fired up to see him pitch tonight.
“Is he under-rated, not from me. The 32, 33 starts he makes every season is right toward the top of the many things I admire most about Dylan. This game is predicated on quality innings on the pitching side and Dylan gives you a lot of quality innings. He takes the ball. He hasn’t missed a turn and his stuff has been really good. That’s important to us.
“It’s hard to say if he’s nastier this season, but he’s approaching that. He has two elite pitches, the four-seam fastball and the slider. The grades on those pitches are important, but the hitters tell you everything. His stuff is elite.
“And now you add the changeup and the two-seamer. Both of them are softer-contact as well as swing-and-miss pitches. And you add the ability to add and subtract from pretty good velocity and the harder slider . It really looks like he has feel for the changeup.
“And then the fact that he throws the two-seamer in. That makes hitters now protect east-and-west, north-and-south and back-and-forth. We think about pitching as being a disruption of timing and getting guys off balance. Changes in velocity have them going back-and-forth and in-and-out and gets them off balance.
“He already had the ability to both with the two elite, Cy Young-caliber weapons he had. How he works is pretty amazing.”
Shildt’s Friday lineup has Fernando Tatis Jr. leading off for the second straight game with Jackson Merrill hitting cleanup. Shildt discussed the batting order and how the slotting of hitters has changed in baseball.
“We’ll see how Fernando leading off works,” said Shildt. “I think it’s something we’re playing with and looking at. He’s comfortable and he’s comfortable hitting second. It looks good. We’ll see how it looks like as we continue. I think it’s a good spot for him.
“I don’t look at players as having set spots in the batting order. Merrill hit ninth last year and seventh, sixth, fifth. Today he’s hitting fourth. I think guys are capable of having good at-bats regardless of circumstances and where they are hitting in the order on any given day.
“Jackson’s clearly been able to demonstrate that. One thing I like about the modern game is we look at things a little bit differently. We don’t view guys as prototype lead-off hitters as we did 15 years ago. This guys is a two-hole hitter 15 years ago because he can shoot the ball the other way. Our two-hole hitter today (Luis Arraez) shoots the ball everywhere.
“The four hitter was your big power guy, I just think it’s gotten to the point where you are going to take good at-bats based on the matchups and the situation.”
Shildt continued to discuss Tatis and whether the right fielder has any limitations due to the injuries he’s had in the past:
“We don’t like to put governors on anybody, but sometimes you have to play with a little bit of a governor because of health,” said Shildt. “As the season goes on, the regulars, all the guys in the clubhouse, are dealing with something. There’s an old saying that once the season starts you are never actually 100 percent.
“We try to be judicious about how the work looks. These guys go out and play … and our group wants to play, they love being in the lineup.
“Last year, Tatis had a little bit of a governor on him. Actually, he had a big governor on him with that stress fracture of his leg. So, it was a broken leg and he made the All-Star team. He feels great, he feels healthy and that’s what we’re going to see out of Fernando. He’s a dynamic player.”
The Padres stole five bases Thursday with Tatis and Manny Machado getting two apiece and Xander Bogaerts stealing the fifth.
“We saw the stolen base last year,” said Shildt. “We take advantage of when the moments are there. Thursday, the moments were there and guys were ready to go.”
Shildt discussed left-handed reliever Yuki Matsui working in three different innings Thursday:
“It was a combination of need and design,” said Shildt. “Last year it wasn’t as needed. Thursday, we had a need. We used seven relievers to get through the game. Yuki was efficient. Any time we send anyone back out — like (Jeremiah) Estrada Thursday. Yuki was able to get through and finish an inning and grab his next inning clean and efficiently. It made sense for him to get the last out, we knew what the workload was coming for the rest of the game so it was not only a good spot there situationally but to help other guys.”
