Padres News: Manny Machado Feels He's Finally Adjusting to DH Role
While Manny Machado is expected to have surgery on a tennis elbow that has bothered him since last season, he is still performing for a team that is on the outskirts of making a miraculous push to the playoffs. And he's doing it in an unfamiliar role.
As a designated hitter.
In Friday's win over St. Louis, Machado went 4-for-4 at the plate and hit two home runs for 3 RBIs. The two time Gold Glove award winning third baseman has been in the lineup as the DH since Sept. 1 in order to avoid exacerbating his already-injured elbow that he'll need surgery on in the offseason.
He opened up about his struggles with the unfamiliar spot on the team.
“That was tough at first,” Machado said. “I think I’m getting myself into a little better role. But yeah, it’s tough. … My entire career was just playing on the field and having that ability to get that adrenaline going from the field and then going to hit and then kind of just going vice versa and keeping that adrenaline going. DHing is a little different. You’ve got to kind of create your own. And it took a little bit at first. It’s just a matter of finding something that works, something that doesn’t. But yeah, it’s tough not being out there on the field. I love playing defense, and it hurts me that I’m not able to go out there and do it.”
The Padres, as it stands at the time of this writing, are 4.5 games behind in the NL Wild Card race. They play the St. Louis Cardinals at 5:40 p.m. PDT Saturday for a chance to continue their desperate climb.
Machado will continue to battle through injury in an effort to help his team pull off the nearly impossible.
