San Diego Padres: Today is the Day Christian Bethancourt Breaks Out
By Jason Burke
The San Diego Padres were laughed at before the season began, and they’ll probably be laughed at once the season really kicks into gear, but right now they’re on the verge of sweeping one World Series hopeful in San Francisco. One key to helping them achieve that goal could be two-way player Christian Bethancourt.
Earlier today I gave a gander at Bethancourt’s ERA, which currently stands at 32.40 after 1.2 innings which have consisted of seven runs crossing home (six earned), three hits allowed, six walks and zero strikeouts. The first thing I wanted to do was check and see which actual full-time relievers were having a worse start to their seasons than Bethancourt, but outside of Sam Dyson (0-2, 72.00) with Texas the names on the list were uninspiring and the sample sizes are just too small to poke any fun at.
But for some reason I really wanted to write about Bethancourt today, so I kept digging. He’s 0-for-2 at the plate this season which I can’t do anything with either, but according to Baseball Savant he is 5-for-7 against the righteous wiggler, Johnny Cueto. Cueto finished sixth in NL Cy Young voting, and Bethancourt, who has a career .222 batting average, is batting .714 off him. Baseball sure can be funny like that.
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To make things even weirder, Bethancourt has a double and a homer off of Cueto. That home run along with two singles all came against Cueto last season, one of the best of his career. If there is a day that Bethancourt could be in the starting lineup, today is that day.
The Giants offense has been putting up runs in bunches, and their 29 runs scored ranks 4th in baseball and is better than every team in the American League. Two of the teams they’re behind, Arizona and Los Angeles also happen to be in their division. Even with all those runs being scored, the Padres are at home, one of the most pitcher friendly parks in the Majors, and for the Giants Sunday is getaway day, which generally leads to some swings outside of the norm. With the beginning to the season that San Francisco has had, it’s not outside the realm of possibilities that the Giants are going to be in a hurry to get back to their own pitcher’s paradise.
Bethancourt’s fastball has averaged 93.7 miles per hour this season and per FanGraphs, the only other pitch he’s had in his repertoire has been a changeup that comes in about nine mph slower.
Christian Bethancourt is at the very least an intriguing player, and if there is a day that he is going to prove that the Padres aren’t crazy for trying to make a two-way player a thing on a roster that also includes three Rule 5 picks, Sunday is the day it’s going to happen.