The Padres are piggybacking!

The Padres are finding creative use of their pitching surplus to solve their bullpen's biggest weakness.

If you did not watch yesterday’s game between the Padres and Phillies, I’m not sure I can properly put into words how happy it would’ve made you feel. But, seeing as how this is a written medium, I suppose it’s my job to try.

Remember three weeks ago, when I was proposing the idea of Snellinger? Snellinger was just the idea of having Blake Snell and Mike Clevinger share a spot in the rotation by having one of them piggyback off the other. It mostly existed to try and keep MacKenzie Gore in the MLB rotation, and it still assumed that Nick Martinez would become a reliever of some sort.

I was certain that the Padres, who almost never try anything adventurous or different, would never do anything like it…

But not so fast, my friend! The Padres have taken my idea and made it even better.

Yesterday, the Padres took their two most prominent issues (too many starters, not enough reliable middle relief), and solved them both.

Mike Clevinger threw 5 innings of 1 hit baseball. He gave up no walks and no runs and threw 75 pitches. It was glorious. And, a week ago, he would’ve tried to go another inning and then someone unreliable would’ve tried to not blow things in the 7th inning. We’ve seen patterns like this already with Clevinger, who isn’t all the way stretched out yet.

Instead, MacKenzie Gore came trotting out of the bullpen for his first relief appearance. Over 3 innings, he gave up 3 hits but no walks and no runs. He could’ve easily gone another inning (he only threw 40 pitches), but the team didn’t want to miss an opportunity to get Taylor Rogers another save (his 14th).

This felt like everything. The team didn’t ask for too much from anyone, and they created bad matchups for the opposing offense by having a lefty pitch after a righty, and they kept Gore in the mix while finding a way to keep his innings low, and AND AND!!!!

They found out a lot about MacKenzie Gore. They found out they could put him in almost any situation and he’s still sharp. Knowing that he can come trotting out of the bullpen and still be as good as he’s been as a starter is incredibly valuable for now (to help with the aforementioned shaky middle relief) and later (now they know they can rely on that in the playoffs).

It felt like dominance. It felt like the Padres were absolutely overwhelming the Phillies with their incredible depth of talented pitchers, so much so that nobody had to really tax themselves to keep the Phillies off the board.

And the best part? The Padres are doing the exact same thing today with Blake Snell, who (like Clevinger) isn’t stretched out yet and doesn’t go long into games anyway, and Nick Martinez.

The Padres even did the smart thing and made sure to get Gore a “clean inning” (meaning bringing him in to start an inning), and I imagine they’ll do the same with Martinez tonight, if they can.

These piggybacks won’t last forever. Eventually, one of the seven very good starting pitchers the Padres have will get injured. It would be incredible if that didn’t happen. And when it (probably) does, Gore and Martinez will find more opportunities to start games. Until then, these Clevinger/Gore and Snell/Martinez days might be the scariest thing the Padres can throw at opposing batters.