Bogaerts Leads Padres' Offense, Stars Heating Up

0:00On April 30th, the San Diego Padres are sitting pretty at 19 wins and 11 losses, one of the top records in baseball. But their big stars like Fernando Tatis Jr, Jackson Merrill and Mani Machado are still shaking off the rust. Tatis hasn't homered yet, Merrill's striking out a bunch, and Machado just hit the shelf with a calf tweak. Meanwhile, Zander Bogarts is carrying the offense, something the Padres dreamed of when they signed him before last season. He's got five home runs already, leading the team with a 0.783 OPS. Bogarts credit staying healthy after two rough injury years, plus seeing the ball better and swinging at strikes. Teammates and coaches are loving it. Benchcoach Randy Noor calls him super-confident, crediting hard work with the hitting coach. Tatis says Bogarts is the ultimate teammate and baller. The guy everyone lives up to in the clubhouse. Dig into the stats, and Bogarts is improving across the board. His hard hit rate and barrel rate jumped from the bottom third last year to around 50th percentile now. Just Tuesday,

1:02he crushed a massive homer, but he likes his walk even more, battling back from bad calls. With Bogarts anchoring shortstop and delivering quality at bats, once those stars heat up, this Padres lineup could turn straight scary for the rest of the league. That's the story for today. MLB News Today, driven by AI, I'm Corey with the story.