{"id":58541,"date":"2025-05-30T15:31:41","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T15:31:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=58541"},"modified":"2025-05-30T15:31:41","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T15:31:41","slug":"white-sox-trash-turns-into-padres-treasure-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=58541","title":{"rendered":"White Sox Trash Turns into Padres Treasure&#8230;Again"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2217226705.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2217226705.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2217226705.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2217226705.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"White Sox Trash Turns into Padres Treasure...Again\" width=\"780\" height=\"520\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p>Gavin Sheets and Manny Machado of the San Diego Padres<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Back in 2016, the Chicago White Sox made a trade for starting pitcher James Shields that would significantly alter the franchise\u2019s future. In what looked to be a salary dump for the San Diego Padres, they would add one of the game\u2019s biggest stars: Fernando Tatis Jr.<\/p>\n<p>Fast forward to 2025, and it looks like the White Sox may have made a similar mistake. This time, it wasn\u2019t through a trade, but instead, the Sox declined to tender the contract of struggling lefty slugger Gavin Sheets. The Padres then stepped in and signed Sheets to a minor league deal. So far, this deal has been one of the best signings of the entire offseason.<\/p>\n<h2>Gavin Sheets Breakout<\/h2>\n<p>Gavin Sheets had to work his way onto the Padres\u2019 Opening Day roster, as he only signed a minor league deal. He did just that by balling out during Spring Training, where he hit over .300 with six home runs in just 54 at-bats. He made it an easy decision for the Padres.<\/p>\n<p>At the beginning of the season, Sheets was the platoon designated hitter against right-handed pitching. Fortunately, he has played extremely well and is now an everyday player for the Padres.<\/p>\n<p>His breakout season has truly been remarkable. In his final two years with the White Sox, Sheets struggled heavily with an OPS of .598 in 2023 and .660 in 2024. Now, it looks like all he needed was a new opportunity, as Sheets has been one of the Padres\u2019 best players at the plate, leading the team in RBIs and slugging.<\/p>\n<h2>So Why Has He Improved?<\/h2>\n<p>The biggest reason for Sheets\u2018 dramatic improvement is that he\u2019s tearing the cover off the baseball. Compared to 2024, his hard hit rate is up from an uninspiring 35.3% to 53.2%, which is top 5 in the MLB. On top of that, his barrel rate has more than doubled, his exit velocity is up ~5%, and his xSLG is up 117 points. He\u2019s destroying the baseball.<\/p>\n<p>The interesting part of his advanced numbers is that he has declined in two majorly important areas: striking out and walking. He\u2019s striking out 3.7% more and walking 2.7% less often, and also whiffing at a higher rate. His approach is more aggressive, and he\u2019s taking bigger swings. While this may not work for everyone, it\u2019s clearly working for him.<\/p>\n<h2>Gavin Sheets\u2019 Future with the <strong>Padres<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The biggest contingency for Gavin Sheets\u2019 future in San Diego is if he continues the success he\u2019s had early on. While his sample size on the Padres is small, his adjustments and change of scenery make it feel more likely than not. I mean, remember, he was on one of the worst teams in history last season, where everyone seemed to regress.<\/p>\n<p>If he continues to swing the shillelagh this way, the Padres will have hit the jackpot. Not only would they have found a diamond in the rough, but Sheets\u2019 contract is very favorable for the Friars, as he is under control until after the 2027 season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHoly Sheets\u201d has already become a fan favorite, and he may be for quite some time. It really does look like the Padres have taken the White Sox\u2019s trash and turned it into treasure\u2026again.<\/p>\n<p>Matthew Kaimer is a sports writer covering the MLB for heavy.com. He has worked for Heavy since 2023 and has over 5 years experience covering the MLB and San Diego Padres through his social media outlet \u201cFriar Talk.\u201d More about Matthew Kaimer<\/p>\n<h2>More Heavy on Padres<\/h2>\n<p>Loading more stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Breaking down Gavin Sheets breakout season for the San Diego Padres and why he has played so well after leaving the White Sox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":58542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>White Sox Trash Turns into Padres Treasure...Again - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=58541\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"White Sox Trash Turns into Padres Treasure...Again - 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