On Saturday night at Petco Park, the San Diego Padres unveiled their new brown and yellow jerseys, which signaled the beginning of what fans have been waiting on for years.
San Diego Padres phenom Fernando Tatis Jr. walked out in the new alternate jersey which was sand with pinstripes and “San Diego” on the chest. Eric Hosmer came out in the new road jersey that featured sand bottoms and rich brown top with “San Diego” on the chest. Finally, Manny Machado came out in the new home uniform. It is pinstripes with brown “PADRES” on the chest. All three uniforms have The Friar on the left arm.
While thousands of fans cheered on the field in front of the stage that was positioned in left-center field, they began to realize how big of a step this was.
Owner Ron Fowler has already said that changes will be made if the team doesn’t perform better in 2020 and 2021, and he is backing it up with new uniforms that are going to be the last uniform change as long as Ron is in charge.
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Padres fans have been waiting for a winning ball club for 13 long seasons. They had a glimmer of hope when “Rockstar GM” A.J. Preller brought in Matt Kemp, James Shields, Justin Upton, and Craig Kimbrel in 2015 but they were never able to have good chemistry and it led to Bud Black being fired and trading all of the veterans away that started with James Shields.
That Shields trade might have been the best thing to happen for the Padres since 1998, as it brought back a 17-year-old shortstop named Fernando Tatis Jr.
Well, now he is one of the best young players in all of baseball and he is one of the studs that will lead the Friars into their window of contention, starting in 2020.
Jayce Tingler will inherit a bunch of young players like Tatis and Paddack in addition to a lot of veterans like Hosmer, Machado, and 2019 MLB Saves Leader Kirby Yates. Paddack won’t have a leash on him like in his rookie season and MacKenzie Gore and Luis Patino will be joining him at some point next season.
A new era of San Diego Padres baseball is starting. There’s a new manager and new colors and it is now the players’ job to deliver postseason baseball to Petco Park.