Padres notes: Drury no longer ‘begging for a job,’ more live pitching for Tatis

Designated for task 49 plate appearances right into a attempting 2020 season (.358 OPS), Brandon Drury really believed he was on his method to righting himself final 12 months. The Mets simply didn’t give him the at-bats to show it and the 4 residence runs and .274/.335/.520 batting line he amassed over 88 plate appearances wasn’t important sufficient to make the 29-year-old Drury a precedence when the lockout lifted in March.

Certain, his cellphone rang.

However when the mud settled, he had simply two minor league provides — from the Reds and Angels.

“Baseball is a loopy recreation,” Drury stated. “I used to be enjoying on daily basis for a number of years there. You’ll be able to’t take something as a right. Not that I ever did, however on the similar time I used to be within the lineup on daily basis and a pair years later I used to be begging for a job.”

Not anymore.

After Drury’s first-inning, first-pitch grand slam Wednesday evening — how’s that for an introduction? — he’s sitting on a career-high 21 residence runs, tied for a career-high with 63 RBIs and his OPS (.867) has by no means been greater, the kind of numbers that not solely warranted All-Star snub discuss however made him a sought-after-name simply three months after struggling to easily discover work.

Greater than that, Drury wakened Tuesday sitting practically 20 video games under .500 as a member of the cost-cutting Reds.

On Wednesday, he was in a clubhouse with renewed World Collection hopes after Padres President of Baseball Operations A.J. Preller added Juan Soto, Josh Bell and Josh Hader to a core that features Manny Machado and the rehabbing Fernando Tatis Jr.

“I’m excited,” Drury stated. “It’s what it’s about, profitable a championship. So to return to a workforce as particular as this workforce, it’s an honor to be right here and I can’t wait to get going.”

Drury served because the DH on Wednesday. With the Reds, he began 54 video games at third base, 16 at second base and 5 at first. Whereas he has historical past in each corners of the outfield, Padres supervisor Bob Melvin expects his subject work to be restricted to these three spots within the infield.

Drury’s greatest spot?

No matter one will get his bat within the lineup.

“Generally you go to groups the place there’s guys who you’re clearly not going to maneuver of that place,” stated Drury, who has bounced between the Diamondbacks to the Yankees to the Blue Jays to the Mets the earlier seven years. “For me, there’s been groups I’ve been on prior to now the place having the ability to play third or first or second, outfield, it’s helped me get within the lineup and present the participant that I may be.”

The hitter that he’s now, too, has undergone a little bit of a philosophical change. It’s not that he’s in opposition to analytics, per se. There’s just a few guys that thrive with deep dives into the numbers and there’s others who get misplaced within the weeds.

Drury realized the onerous means that he’s the latter. What he’s performed to date, he says, is just the start of his evolution.

“I nonetheless imagine I may be ever higher,” Drury stated. “ … I believe I’ve tried to simplify for essentially the most half. There’s loads of data round baseball. Generally once you’re attempting to hit, you’re targeted on launch angle or give attention to so many alternative issues that the pc says.

“For some guys it really works. For me, that doesn’t work. I like going as much as the plate, being on time for the fastball and taking a brief swing. Final 12 months was my first 12 months again to hitting like I had since I used to be a child — react and be aggressive within the field.”

Notable

• Tatis confronted reside pitching for the second time Wednesday afternoon, this time in opposition to each a lefty and a righty from the Padres’ minor league system. A rehab task is close to, however the Padres may have Tatis partake in one other session on Friday in Los Angeles earlier than making that call.
• OF Jose Azocar was optioned to Triple-A El Paso as Soto, Bell and Drury had been activated. RHP Reiss Knehr additionally was optioned to El Paso after serving because the 27^th man for Tuesday’s doubleheader, whereas LHP Jay Groome and C Cam Gallagher, acquired Tuesday, had been assigned to El Paso.
• The Padres, as groups did all through the majors, held a second of silence for Vin Scully, who died Tuesday on the age of 94. The Padres might be in Los Angeles on Friday, the Dodgers’ first residence recreation since Scully’s passing.