BY J.A. SCHWARTZ
On Opening Day 2024, when the Padres and Dodgers kicked off the season in Seoul, South Korea, seven of the nine players on the field for San Diego had played shortstop at some point in their careers, and most had played more than 100 games as professionals at the position. That lineup included:
1B-Jake Cronenworth
2B-Xander Bogaerts
SS-Ha-Seong Kim
3B-Manny Machado
LF-Jurickson Profar
CF-Jackson Merrill
RF-Fernando Tatis Jr.
General Manager A.J. Preller had prioritized using shortstops, arguably the most athletic players on the field, as the cornerstone of his versatile roster. Despite having a team full of ex-shortstops that made a deep run in the 2022 playoffs before bowing out to the Phillies in the NLCS, Preller imported free agent Xander Bogaerts from Boston that winter. The Padres signed Bogaerts to an 11-year, $280 million deal, ostensibly to become the starter at shortstop despite the fact that Kim had played that position in 2022. Kim had been a Gold Glove finalist at shortstop in 2022 in the NL, but he agreed to move to second base to allow the new free agent to take over that critical position (Bogaerts was a Gold Glove finalist in 2022 in the American League). After Bogaerts played most of the 2023 there for the Padres, manager Mike Schildt felt that Kim’s glove was superior to Bogaerts’, and asked Bogaerts to switch positions with his teammate. Bogaerts did so without complaint. “The only reason I came here was to win a World Series, so if this is the way we’re going to get one, so be it.”
The Padres have struggled to play .500 ball since Xander Bogaerts went down with an injury on August 27, losing multiple chances to gain ground on the NL West leading Dodgers while resorting to fielding shortstops by committee.
Preller noted that having too many shortstops would not be an issue. “Our roster gives us some different flexibility and some different possibilities because we have athletic players that can play multiple spots.”
Fast forward to 2025, and the Padres are once again chasing down those same Dodgers for the NL West crown. Though the organization has seen some personnel changes since the beginning of 2024, the current roster still features five players (Bogaerts, Machado, Cronenworth, Tatis Jr., and Merrill) from that Seoul trip int 2024 who have played extensively in the pros as shortstops. To ensure that the roster had additional redundancy at the position, Preller signed Jose Iglesias, most recently of the Mets, prior to the 2025 season, a move that has already provided an additional level of defensive versatility to the club.
Bogaerts fouled a ball off his foot on August 27th, causing a non-displaced fracture that would see him hit the injured list two days later. Using a combination of veteran Jose Iglesias and minor league journeyman Mason McCoy, the Padres lost six of their first nine games without Bogaerts. That duo went a combined 6-31 with a single extra base hit and two RBI’s over that nine game stretch. Now, the pennant hopes for San Diego may well hinge on whether or not the roster flexibility Preller alluded to back in 2023 will allow the team to find an in-house solution to their glaring need at the most important position on the field.
Despite having played a total of 64 games at shortstop over his six seasons in San Diego, 31-year old Jake Cronenworth started at the position in their September 7th win over Colorado, making several dazzling fielding plays in support of pitcher Dylan Cease in a 8-1 victory that pulled the team within a single game of Los Angeles atop the division. Cronenworth starred as a two-way player at the University of Michigan, playing short and pitching for the Wolverines before being drafted in the seventh round (as a pitcher) by Tampa Bay in 2015. Cronenworth did not appear in the majors for the Rays, and was traded to San Diego after the 2019 season.
Cronenworth’s most recent work at short for the Padres came in 2022, when he appeared at the position for a total of nine games. Given his offensive abilities (he’s hitting .248/.371/.390 with 10 home runs and 54 RBI’s in 2025), he’s a significant upgrade over both Iglesias and McCoy at the plate, so if he’s able to handle the rigors of the defensive aspects of the job, Cronenworth may find himself playing the most important position on the diamond over the final few weeks of the season. Schildt noted: “It’s an opportunity there to slide Croney over…We need to make sure we also field our best defense…We do have some flexibility, and we’ll use it appropriately.”
Jake Cronenworth isn’t known as one of the Padres offensive stars, but the two time All-Star’s versatility switching infield positions has been instrumental in keeping San Diego in the pennant race despite numerous injuries.
A few games at the position does not indicate a regular lineup shift, but it is ironic that perhaps the least heralded shortstop who remains on the 2025 roster (Machado and Merrill were first round picks as shortstops, and they and Bogaerts and Tatis Jr. were all elite prospects at the position through their minor league careers) could end up playing a significant role in helping to decide the NL West race. Schildt was quoted on August 29th that Bogaerts would “be in a boot for a week and then evaluation from there, but…Bogey.. most importantly doesn’t feel like this is season ending. I don’t like to put any timetable on it, but clearly he’s going to be out.” It would be difficult to project a return that would occur more quickly than a full month at the earliest, meaning that the club will have to rely upon other candidates to fill the shoes of their talented veteran.
When asked if he’d be willing to move back to shortstop, star center-fielder Jackson Merrill was game: “Oh, I wish! That’d be awesome. I’ll play wherever, honestly, but obviously, it’s up to them.” There has been no indication from the team that Merrill would be an option at the position, but his willingness to relocate to help the club is certainly refreshing. A trio full of well-paid, established stars like Bogaerts, Merrill and Cronenworth have all agreed to switch positions if it would help the team in its quest to bring the first World Series title to San Diego, and Schildt knows that he’s got players willing to run through a wall to accomplish the team’s aspirations.
Another Preller trade deadline target was Mason Miller, the hard throwing 27-year-old reliever who came to San Diego from the Athletics in a package that cost the Padres their top prospect, Leo De Vries, who was ranked as a top ten overall prospect in the game at the time of the deal. Many pundits felt that giving up such a promising player-an 18 year-old possible franchise caliber shortstop-to acquire a relief pitcher who had battled injuries through most of his young career was a gamble with too much risk for the potential reward. With less than two weeks left in the season, Miller has done everything possible to justify the transaction. In 19.1 innings with the Padres, Miller has allowed only two runs, giving up seven hits and striking out 36, leading to a 0.93 ERA. He’s whiffed 54.8% of batters he’s faced since the trade, 36 of the 64 who have faced his hellacious assortment of pitches, the best such ratio during that time period. The next best pitcher in the majors since the trade deadline in strikeout percentage is striking out 41.7% of batters (Miller’s teammate, Jeremiah Estrada), a huge gap. If the Padres are going to win playoff games, it’s highly likely they’ll need Miller blowing smoke past opposing hitters to quell late-inning rallies.
Preller may not have envisioned such a scenario when building the 2025 Padres, but the redundancy of having experienced players who are willing to help fill in during a critical juncture in the season provides valuable options for Schildt and the Padres. Bogaerts combination of reliable defense and steady offensive output have been consistently present during the 131 games he’s been featured at shortstop for San Diego in 2025. His team’s capacity to earn a postseason berth, and perhaps to win the NL West for the first time since 2006, could well be determined by how well his teammates can rely upon their experience as shortstops in his absence.
