The Padres activated Manny Machado from the paternity list before tonight’s series opener against the Phillies. More notably, he’s in the lineup at third base for the first time this season.
Machado had been limited to designated hitter for the first few weeks. Last October, he underwent surgery to repair the extensor tendon in his right elbow. The offseason provided enough of a recovery window for Machado to resume hitting by Opening Day, but he wasn’t quite ready to throw at the level needed to play the left side of the infield. That’s evidently no longer the case.
Rookie Graham Pauley is in the DH spot tonight against Aaron Nola. The Friars used Jurickson Profar as the designated hitter in three of the four games that Machado missed while on paternity leave. Profar is back in left field for today’s contest.
Machado will probably still see a fair amount of DH action in the next couple weeks. It stands to reason that manager Mike Shildt and the coaching staff will be wary of putting too much stress on his arm right away. As Machado builds increasingly back to everyday third base work, San Diego could rotate various players through the DH spot.
The Friars have had to live without much offensive production at third base as they’ve relied on utility players to handle the position for a few weeks. San Diego third basemen — primarily Tyler Wade and Eguy Rosario — have combined for a .228/.291/.316 slash line. That ranks 19th in MLB in on-base percentage and 21st in slugging. Rosario and Wade can each play multi-positional roles off the bench, while Matthew Batten was optioned to accommodate Machado’s reinstatement to the active roster.
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