Padres may have found their lead-off hitter in 31-year-old outfielder
The San Diego Padres have struggled to find a leadoff hitter this season, but manager Craig Stammen seems to have found one in outfielder Ramon Laureano.
Padres may have found their lead-off hitter in 31-year-old outfielder originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . The San Diego Padres can’t be stopped, completing their three-game sweep of the Seattle Mariners on Thursday and winning eight straight games.
Three of the Padres' wins during the winning streak have come on walk-offs . The one area that has lacked for the Padres has been finding a solid lead-off hitter — Padres lead-off hitters this season are hitting . 218 ( 22nd in MLB ).
After manager Craig Stammen struggled to find a lead-off man, he found one in outfielder Ramon Laureano. Manager Craig Stammen names Ramon Laureano the San Diego Padres lead-off hitter According to MLB. com’s AJ Cassavell , Stammen said that Laureano will be the Padres' leadoff hitter moving forward after having “quality at-bats” at the plate this season.
The first-year manager said post-game that he knew Laureano was his leadoff guy when he didn’t go into a slump. “I think as soon as he had the one game where he kind of got two hits, like every time we put somebody in the lead off, they’ve gone into a slump, and he just didn't go into a slump,” Stammen said to “Foul Territory’s” Marty Caswell . “I think maybe the first home run that he hit from the lead-off spot not to lead off the game.