TORONTO — Jason Heyward would expect the questions.
“It’s fair,” he said. “It’s more than fair. Spectators, fans, critics, they’ve got their perspective. … I’m just saying it is fair for everyone to have their opinion, and that’s fine.”
Besides, Heyward is well aware he is less than three months from his 36th birthday, which just as a matter of fact generally puts a player right near the back of usefulness in Major League Baseball.
“As a player, that’s not easy to deal with,” he said. “Like, you never know when it’ll be your last. You want to make the most of the opportunity. But you’ve still gotta be aggressive, still gotta hunt, you still gotta play the game that way.”
Heyward entered Wednesday’s game with a .185 batting average. He had singles in each of his previous two starts, going 2-for-6 in all. Before that, he endured an 11-game stretch in which he hit .103 (3-for-29) and reached base at a .152 clip.
But is that because he is pushing 36?
“I don’t know the numbers,” he said. “But I feel like I’ve had similar starts.”
His .185 average is third-lowest through the first 31 games of a season. His .233 on-base percentage is the lowest by six points. He has had eight 11-game stretches in his career where he hit worse than .103.
He has seen encouraging signs over the past two weeks, such as pulling balls he wasn’t trying to pull and remaining ready.
“When you go through stretches like this one, you put a lot of work in,” he said. “The work goes well, but then you get into the game and you really want to try. Too hard. You’re trying to do the right things, but you have to let those things happen. You’ve got to be aggressive, not be ive. But I think that just comes from wanting to win, wanting to help a team, wanting to play the role. That’s part of the game, and the game is hard no matter what. You’re gonna go through stretches. At any point in the year, it could happen. I feel good about my work.”
Teammates and coaches say Heyward’s positivity is unrelenting and infectious. Players volunteer regularly how invested he is in their success.
Heyward, who has been to the postseason 10 times with five different teams in 15 seasons, said being “around winning” provides a boost.
“When that’s the mindset,” he said, “it definitely helps out a lot.
The Padres are not known to actively be in the market for a left fielder, though that is inevitable if Heyward does not begin to provide more at the plate.
Heyward is aware of the stakes for his career.
“Just keep going,” he said. “Keep going, do your best and treat it like it is your last. Sometimes that mentality is a gift and a curse, right? Because you don’t want to hold on to it too much. But just enough to say, ‘All right, I’m present. I’m going to make the most of this.’ And then after that, just go have fun.”
Darvish update
Starting pitcher Yu Darvish is feeling some “residual effects” from his elbow issue in spring training, and there remains no timetable for his return.
Multiple sources said he is not experiencing pain and that there has not been a setback, per se.
The plan, according to sources, is for Darvish to remain in San Diego rather than the team in Atlanta later this week, as had been expected.
Darvish, 38, was shut down in spring training with elbow inflammation. He made a rehab start a week ago in which he threw 51 pitches and completed four innings. The Padres had multiple personnel people in attendance at that Triple-A game, and the reports were highly encouraging.
But Darvish, who hit 97 mph with his fastball in that start, has told the Padres he is not feeling right.
Darvish missed time the past two seasons with elbow issues.
The team has planned since the start of spring training all along to, in the words of multiple people, “save bullets” with the veteran right-hander, who has 203 victories between Japan and the United States. They want him available and healthy at the end of the season, and they have deferred to him at every step of his return.
Musgrove progressing
The rehab process for a pitcher after Tommy John surgery is arguably the most physically arduous and mentally challenging an athlete can face.
The monotony of the yearlong (at least) grind to come back is draining.
That might go double or triple for Joe Musgrove, who is obsessively goal oriented and driven by competition.
For most, the biggest hurdle in coming back from the reconstruction of the UCL is finding the balance between pushing through discomfort and not pushing too hard.
Musgrove, seven months out from his TJ procedure, began throwing the second week of April. He is now in his first week of playing catch at 90 feet. That likely means he has two more weeks at that distance before moving out farther.
“I guess this is probably the most common time for guys to push it and set themselves back,” Musgrove said Wednesday. There’s times, like even right now, where I don’t feel as good playing catch. But I think part of the understanding of the surgery and how my body is healing is not panicking on those days and giving it a day or two and going out and playing catch when I’m still a little bit sore and seeing how a body responds.
“A lot of it is just trial and error stuff, like starting to understand what these feelings are — what’s just a little uncomfortableness or tightness and something you can work on and what’s like some damage to the arm that needs rest. I don’t where it’s going to go in the next few weeks. But with where I’m at now and staying on this program, it’s been really good.”
Musgrove, whose 3.23 ERA in 97 starts since ing the Padres in 2021 is third-best among those with at least 80 starts with the team, harbors the ambition of pitching out of the bullpen in the playoffs this year. The more likely scenario, he knows, is that he will have to wait until 2026.
“My goal is just to keep moving forward,” Musgrove said. “If I have to take it slow, fine. I just don’t want to stop.”
