Padres pregame: Donovan Solano knows role, Adam Mazur optioned as bullpen is fortified
Reliever Logan Gillaspie up from Triple-A El Paso as Padres don’t need a fifth starter again until July 27
Xander Bogaerts will start a rehab assignment on Wednesday evening at high Single-A Lake Elsinore, perhaps the beginning of the final steps before rejoining the Padres this weekend ahead of the All-Star break.
Donovan Solano knows what that means for him.
“I think this is my role,” Solano said Wednesday afternoon, “and I’m playing mostly right now because it’s opportunities. But I know my role. Come to the bench, get ready for the lefties, something like that, and the moment they need me for right-handed pitchers I’ll be ready for those.
“I know Bogey has to play. Everybody has to play. So I’ll be ready to help the team from the bench.”
That time could come as soon as Friday as Padres manager Mike Shildt said Bogaerts would play second base and Jake Cronenworth would play first base when he’s in the field, pushing Solano into a DH rotation that will include All-Star Luis Arraez, as well as continued maintenance days for Manny Machado.
Like on Wednesday.
Machado is DHing as the clean-up hitter, pushing Solano into the lineup at third base and in the five-hole for Wednesday’s 3:40 p.m. start against the Mariners.
A Silver Slugger winner with the Giants in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, the 36-year-old Solano is hitting .287/.347/.401 with three homers and 19 RBIs in 49 games with the Padres. He signed a minor league deal in April, arrived as a bench bat in early May and became something of a regular when Bogaerts fractured his left shoulder on a diving play on March 20 in Atlanta.
Since then, 36 of Solano’s 43 appearances have been as a member of the starting lineup.
When the time comes, he’ll be ready to return to the original role that brought him into the organization.
“Everybody here wants to play every day,” Solano said. “You know that. I want to play every day, but we need to think more like what is best for the team. We see guys here like superstars. They handle it every day. They’ve proved it. I had the opportunity early in my career, but I didn’t prove it like I’m doing right now. …
He added: “At the end of the day, you want to win, you want to produce every single time you go to the box.”
No matter the role, whether he’s holding down the fort as he’s has during Bogaerts’ absence or coming off the bench as a .254/.339/.340 hitter over 307 plate appearances as a sub, which includes hitting .260/.328/.353 over 195 plate appearances as a pinch-hitter.
