PEORIA, Ariz. — Xander Bogaerts, the shortstop the San Diego Padres signed last offseason to an 11-year, $280 million contract, will play second base this year, manager Mike Shildt said. Ha-Seong Kim will return from second base to shortstop, the position the utility Gold Glove Award winner primarily and impressively played in 2022.
The Padres had broached the idea of an eventual position change with Bogaerts when he first joined the team, but Friday’s revelation still highlighted the five-time Silver Slugger’s unconventional fit on a shortstop-heavy roster — and the personality that encouraged the franchise to splurge for another megadeal.
“Xander is coupling with us and partnering with the group and the team,” Shildt said. “I don’t use this word a lot: My admiration for Xander Bogaerts went through the roof in this transition. … I can’t say it’s etched in stone 100 percent. We’re going to let him do it. We’re going to see what it looks like. We’re going to evaluate it. But he’s all in right now to go over, give it its full due.”
Bogaerts, 31, has played shortstop almost exclusively in his professional career; he made some appearances at third base in 2013 and 2014 as he was breaking into the majors with the Boston Red Sox, but he made his name — and his fortune — as a star hitter playing the infield’s premium position. The Red Sox in 2019 signed him to a six-year, $132 million extension that included an opt-out after the 2022 season. Bogaerts exercised that clause, subsequently landing what remains one of the 10 largest contracts in free-agent history.
Bogaerts was productive if a bit underwhelming in his Padres debut, logging a .790 OPS and 4.4 FanGraphs WAR while contending with a recurring wrist injury that dated back to his Red Sox days. Once considered a subpar shortstop, he appeared to sustain a mid-career improvement on defense. But his public metrics were mixed — Bogaerts recorded plus-three Outs Above Average and minus-four Defensive Runs Saved — and Shildt raised the concept of a position change during a pre-Christmas visit to Bogaerts’ native Aruba.
Ha-Seong Kim has proven to be an excellent defensive shortstop. (Joe Puetz / Getty Images)
Kim, 28, last season became the first Asian-born infielder to win a Gold Glove, appearing at second base, shortstop and third base along the way. He mostly played second in 2023 to accommodate Bogaerts’ arrival, even as many scouts continued to rate him as the team’s best defensive shortstop. Right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. was a shortstop in 2021 when the Padres signed him to a 14-year, $340 million extension. First baseman Jake Cronenworth, a former occasional shortstop, was coming off a strong year at second base last April when the Padres extended him for seven years and $80 million.
Such investments hindered San Diego’s roster construction efforts as they significantly pared payroll this offseason. The Padres at least have experienced notable success with recent positional swaps. Kim has emerged as one of the sport’s finest defenders, regardless of the assignment. Tatis, playing right field last season, became the franchise’s first player to win a Platinum Glove Award. Cronenworth struggled on offense in 2023 but provided above-average defense at first base. The team hopes Bogaerts can follow a path similar to the one taken by the Texas Rangers’ Marcus Semien, a highly-paid former shortstop who has compiled 16.6 WAR over the past three seasons while playing second base.
“You want as many shortstops as you can have on a baseball field in as many positions as you can have,” Shildt said. “I expect there to be some transition, some learning curve (for Bogaerts). I think we’d all be naive to think that won’t be the case. But also, we’ll make sure … he’s still a captain of our infield. He’s still a guy that’s going to run point guard from the second base position about how we’re operating, how we’re competing, how we’re aware of game situations on the field.”
The Padres did not have serious discussions with Bogaerts this offseason about potentially moving to first base instead. Some in the organization believe the team’s best defensive alignment would have him at first, Cronenworth at second and Kim at shortstop.
(Top photo: Orlando Ramirez / USA TODAY)