Padres Daily: New closer in town; Higgy does it all; hailing the Crone Zone; old-school Joe

Good morning,

Some games are just more intense than others.

It was intense at Petco Park yesterday.

You can read in my game story (here) about the hectic manner in which the Padres built a lead, added on and then held on for a 3-2 victory over the Cardinals.

The win was summed up in manager Mike Shildt’s use of a combat term when praising the job Robert Suarez did in getting the final five outs.

“He covered and moved us,” Shildt said. “He covered and moved his teammates today.”

That has to end up on a T-shirt.

Cover and Move

It’s a phrase that essentially means picking up (covering) the people working with you toward an objective.

It was what Kyle Higashioka did in throwing out two runners trying to steal second base and hitting a home run in the fourth inning. It was what Jake Cronenworth did lunging to snare an errant throw to complete a double play. It was certainly what Suarez did coming in for a struggling Wandy Peralta in the eighth inning and then working the ninth.

“Yeah, it’s not easy,” Suarez said later.

If it was easy, everyone would do it.

Like Josh Hader.

Look, Hader had his reasons for being so strict about rarely pitching more than the ninth inning. He had been overused by the Brewers and had it held against him in arbitration. He had yet to get his big payday, which he did as a free agent this winter. So it worked out for him — though his time in Houston after signing that five-year, $95 million contract has begun with a blown save and a loss.

It did not so much work out for the Padres in the 2022 National League Championship Series or in multiple crucial games in 2023. Hader was fantastic for the Padres. They likely would not have gotten to the NLCS without him. But he worked more than one inning for them once, getting four outs to clinch Game 2 of the ‘22 NL Division Series against the Dodgers. They needed him to do it a few more times.

It was an odd dynamic between Hader and Bob Melvin. The former Padres manager wanted to respect Hader. But it was never clear why more wasn’t done to try to get Hader to expand his willingness to be a good teammate. (There is no guarantee it would have had any effect on Hader, as he was pretty dug in on his stance.)

The Padres headed off any such issues with Suarez in the offseason.

“They came to me and they asked me if that’s something that I was willing and available to do — get more than three outs, and I told him from the start that, yeah, that’s something that I was willing to do,” Suarez said through interpreter Danny Sanchez.

Robert Suarez (75) reacts after the last out of the ninth inning.

(Meg McLaughlin/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Even though two of Suarez’s three saves this season have involved more than one inning of work, this is not going to be a regular thing.

It can’t be.

The Padres felt comfortable using Suarez to get the final four outs in the season’s second game, because it was his first appearance of the season and they had a week off after that. He had not pitched in six days before his five-out foray yesterday, and the Padres are off today.

Said Suarez: “I’d had a couple days off and then with the day off tomorrow, I felt good enough to go out there for four or five outs.”

It is appreciated.

“Having a closer that you can go out there and rely on for more than just three outs is huge to us here,” Joe Musgrove said. “He’s always willing to take the ball, and we’re grateful for it.”

Higgy did it all

Higashioka joined a short list of catchers to have ever thrown out two baserunners and homered in the same inning.

(Elias)

He mostly found it amusing.

“I mean, there’s a lot of stuff there that’s out of your control,” he said. “What if you’re not batting that inning? Or what if nobody steals? Or what if you do that, but it’s the bottom of the fourth and the top of the fifth? I’m sure that doesn’t count. There are so many things you can’t control. It’s a very cosmic, right?”

Higashioka laughed as he noted he has been a part of a number of the type of very specific lists endemic to baseball before, such as as when he went hitless in his first 22 major league at-bats, the longest such streak ever at the start of a Yankee career. Or that he is one of nine players in MLB history to have his first three career hits be home runs. Or when, on Sept. 16, 2020, he became the first Yankees player to hit three home runs in a game while batting in the No.9 spot in the order. Or that he is the only catcher in history with three multi-homer games within his first 12 career home runs.

“I’ve had a few obscure things about me that I just find funny that sometimes they seem to happen to me,” Higashioka said. “I’m just glad that I was able to do my job when the opportunity arose.”

Highlighting the Crone Zone

One night it’s a diving stop, the next it’s a run into foul territory and a catch while falling against the netting.

Cronenworth has made at least one fine defensive play seemingly every game this season.

Yesterday, it was a full extension lunge to his right while keeping his foot on the bag and making a catch on a wide throw from second baseman Xander Bogaerts to complete a double play.

“I try to use the flexibility I still have left,” said the former middle infielder, who is beginning his second season as the Padres’ full-time first baseman.

“Let’s spend some time and give Crone Zone some love right now,” Shildt said. “He’s played his tail off defensively. He’s in the middle of everything we’ve done this year. He’s taken as many good quality at-bats as anybody, and that’s saying something because we’ve got a lot of guys taking good at-bats. I mean, he’s making loud outs, he’s hitting balls all over the yard. He’s making plays all over the place defensively. Every night I come in I got a plus defensive play or three. So another nice play by Jake. But let’s appreciate the body of work that Jake Cronenworth has given us and not overlook it.”

Cronenworth is batting .286 (10-for-35). He was batting .375 (9-for-24) on Sunday, but over the past three games has made five outs with an exit velocity of 100 mph or higher. He grounded into a double play at 106.3 mph Tuesday and yesterday grounded out at 105.4 mph in the second inning and lined out at 105.9 mph in the fourth inning.

It is at times like these when his renewed commitment to eschewing results for process is tested — and most crucial.

“It’s what I’ve worked on,” he said. “It’s the approach I go with every time. I wish the balls I hit at 105 got by some guys. But having quality at-bats is all that counts.”

Joe throws it all

If there is a pitcher as fascinating to watch work as Yu Darvish, it might be Musgrove.

Darvish is the only pitcher in the major leagues to throw seven different pitches at least five percent of the time in 2023. Musgrove is one of four others who threw six pitches at least that often.

He is such a thinker.

I can’t say I exactly think along with him on a day like yesterday, but it is fun to try. When Musgrove is on, you don’t have to be a brain surgeon (or Ruben Niebla) to know it. And it was clear from the beginning yesterday this was a different Musgrove from his first two starts. And that it was a little bit of the same old Musgrove.

He was throwing everything in the arsenal, letting batters know a certain pitch could be coming at any time and then picking and choosing when he used it again. The swings were awkward. There were a lot of head-shaking takes.

After going heavy with the fastball early in his first two starts, Musgrove threw four different pitches to start yesterday’s game and was heavy slider in the first inning.

After getting his first two strikeouts with the slider, he began the third inning by ending a strikeout with his second changeup of the day. Then he got the next batter by ending his fourth strikeout with his third cutter of the day.

Musgrove had thrown just seven fastballs through two innings (including his four-seam and cutter) and had not used his sinker to that point. Between the three pitches, he threw 37 fastballs by the end of his six innings.

“I’ve been trying to change my approach and just kind of beat the other team to the adjustments they were trying to make,” he said. “And today we kind of went back to the old version of myself, mixing in all of my pitches early in the game first time around, showing them a little bit everything, keeping them off balance. I think the fastball played up a little bit as the game went on. I was able to use a sinker early in counts and get some quick ground balls. … So I think when I mix all my pitches in early and don’t give them a chance to like see it or isolate on certain things, I see a lot of success. So I think just getting back to how I used to pitch.”

Jeff Sanders’ notebook (here) includes more of Musgrove’s thoughts on his outing, his velocity and the state of the pitching staff. (The story also contains the news about longtime Padres executive Fred Uhlman Jr.’s retirement.)

Tidbits

• For more insight on Larry Lucchino’s legacy in San Diego, read Bryce Miller’s column (here).
  
• Padres catchers have thrown out four of the five runners that have attempted to steal against them this season. (Additionally, Darvish picked off a runner who had taken off for second.) The Padres ranked 27th in the major leagues last season, throwing out just 15 percent of the runners who attempted to steal against them.
  
• Bogaerts’ singled yesterday on balls that had exit velocities of 69.2 mph and 70.6 mph. His five hits with an exit velocity under 80 mph are most in the major leagues.
  
• Usually, when a team leaves so many chances to score out on the bases, they pay for it. The Padres went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position yesterday and won. Since the inception of the franchise, they are 15-56 when going hitless in 10 or more at-bats with runners in scoring position.
  
• Musgrove hit two batters and Peralta hit two batters yesterday. It was just the eighth time Padres pitchers have hit as many as four batters in a game.
  
• The Padres play just three semi-repeaters (the term for when teams face each other twice in a span of three series) this season. Two are against the Giants. They play in San Francisco beginning Friday after playing them last Thursday through Sunday at Petco Park. The teams also meet Sept. 6-8 in San Diego and Sept. 13-15 at Oracle Park. The Padres’ other semi-repeater is against the Pirates in August.

Win some

The Padres might have gotten a break in the sixth inning when a pitch slightly below the zone was called strike two instead of ball four against Nolan Arenado. Musgrove proceeded to end the inning by striking out Arenado with runners on first and second. (I say “might have” because while the pitch was clearly outside the box that roughly indicates the strike zone, it was within the shaded area that MLB considers a 50-50 call and does not consider to be a missed call.)

Anyway, file this away for solace when complaining about calls that go against the Padres: Through yesterday’s games, Padres pitchers have been the beneficiary of an MLB-high 32 strike calls on pitches that were outside the zone.

Here is Arenado’s at-bat. Pitch “5” was called strike two. Arenado swung and missed at Pitch “6.”

(MLB.com)

Minors report

The minor league season has begun, which means Jeff Sanders’ excellent coverage of the minor leagues has begun. That actually never stops.

You can read his report (here) from yesterday, in which he discusses the plan for 17-year-old Leodalis De Vries, the organization’s prized signing in the latest international class.

Even though the Padres actually have a major league team worth following now, their plan is to achieve sustained success using many of the players currently in their minor leagues. And don’t tell him I said so, but Jeff does a fantastic job keeping you informed about the Padres’ farm.

All right, that’s it for me.

Padres are off today. I will have a story on catcher Luis Campusano on our Padres page later today.

Next newsletter will be in your inbox Saturday morning. Talk to you then.

P.S. It’s common knowledge I’m a big fan of Jesse Agler, and the Padres’ radio voice was on TV the past few days filling in while Don “National Guy” Orsillo was working for TBS. And you gotta give credit where it’s due: