Padres notes: Gavin Sheets to be activated, Casey Mize working to get back in sync
LOS ANGELES — When the champagne flows — whether late Thursday at Dodger Stadium or this weekend at Petco Park — Gavin Sheets will be in the middle of a celebration.
Where he belongs.
Thankfully.
“When it happened in Tampa, I didn’t know if this day was necessarily going to come this year,” Sheets said after joining the Padres at Dodger Stadium on Thursday. “I’m just super excited to feel like I’m healthy again and feel like I can contribute.”
Sheets’ plantar fasciitis took a turn for the worse while running the bases in a late August game against the Rays. He’d been managing the injury for some time only to land on the injured list ahead of the final month of the season. Sheets did not heal quickly enough to get into minor league rehab games, but he ramped up in live batting practice at the team’s complex in Peoria, Ariz., took live BP at Petco Park on Monday and returned to Arizona to continue pushing toward activation.
While he was not activated ahead of Thursday’s game, his return to the lineup as a left-handed DH/pinch-hitter is imminent.
“I don’t think he has to show anything else to me,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “He says he feels healthier than he has for a little while. We saw him the other day in the live BP. He looked really good. He’s taking a ton of bats in Arizona. We saw video that looks really good. So it’s just a matter of when we want to make that roster move.”
Sheets carried the team at points in the first half, when consistent production from the likes of Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill was hard to come by. He had a .751 OPS in April and .861 OPS in May and had late-game heroics carry the team to improbable wins the first couple months.
The foot injury wore on Sheets as the season went on. He hit just .175/.292/.305 over a 72-game stretch ahead of landing on the injured list.
Though Sheets was initially wearing a walking boot in the visiting clubhouse on Thursday, he believes the worst of the plantar fasciitis is behind him.
“Yeah, obviously for a while was just being in a boot, seeing if we could get some kind of scarring, some kind of healing with the plantar plate,” said Sheets, who will also be wearing a brace on his left foot. “And once we went back to Arizona, just to first see if I could do it again, and once we saw how well the recovery had worked, then we just hit a full ramp. A lot of the bats, a lot of swings, a lot of Trajekt (pitching simulation) just getting back to game speed.
“So super happy with where I’ve gotten.”
Mize’s final pitch
Casey Mize would not take the ball if he was physically compromised, he said after his last start (3 IP, 5 ER, 5 BBs). But a right groin ailment sent him to the injured list twice this year with the Tigers, and he rolled his right ankle slipping down the dugout steps in his fourth start with the Padres.
It’s something to consider in assessing the nine starts (6.64 ERA) Mize has made as a Padre. He certainly was in his between-start work leading into his final regular-season start on Friday.
“Yeah, just making sure we’re kind of moving well down the mound,” Mize said. “Try not to get stuck in some positions and just trying to sync up my lower half to the upper half. Feel like there’s been a little bit of disconnect that’s going on. So connecting those and trying to get those on time and moving down the mound was kind of the main focus this week.”
Asked if that disconnect was related to the groin or the more recent mishap with his ankle, which has remained wrapped for stability, Mize said: “I’m not sure. I think it’s just a little out of whack right now. I need to put it together.”
Especially because the Padres will still be playing for something Friday. They began Thursday as the No. 4 seed and can earn home games in the NL Wild Card Series if they remain at least a game ahead of the Cubs.
The start will be Mize’s third this year against the Diamondbacks. He allowed one run in six innings in a no-decision in Arizona while with the Tigers in his first start of the season, then allowed a career-high eight runs in 3⅓ innings in his first start as a Padre in Arizona.
“I’m going to learn from every start I make, no matter the circumstances,” Mize said. “So I’ve pitched against them twice. Tomorrow will be the third. I’ll look back on both of those starts. Already have. Just see what I can see. But, like I always do … I’m going to pitch to a lot of my strengths and attack some of the weaknesses that exist as well.”
Notable
DH Miguel Andujar (wrist) was expected to join the team from Arizona, where he was getting at-bats alongside Sheets.