Hot May Has Cory Spangenberg Among Top NL Rookies

When a team drafts a player tenth overall, they are doing so with the hopes of him someday being a big part of the team’s everyday lineup.

But for the San Diego Padres’ 2011 draft pick Cory Spangenberg, his original impact with his ball club in the 2015 season has been as the team’s super-utility player off the bench.

Spending the majority of his minor league career as a second baseman (347-of-370 games), Spangenberg has seen time in both corner outfield spots, second and third to go along with being the team’s primary pinch-hitter.

But a hot bat has forced Bud Black to permanently implant Spangenberg into the lineup and show why the Padres coveted him so highly back in his draft year.

Seeing the field more and more with the continued struggles of Will Middlebrooks, Spangenberg has hit for a .333/.432/.556 slash half-way through the current month. The 24 year olds .556 slugging was spiked in his most recent performance against the Washington Nationals, hitting the first two home runs of his season – and first career multi-homer game – in the Padres’ victory.

Middelbrooks, acquired from the Boston Red Sox during the offseason, has hit .160 in that same span. Even Jedd Gyorko’s May average of .355 has only lifted his season mark to .216, and the two combined have combined to hit a paltry .211.

Thanks to an .846 OPS, Spangenberg only finds him one point behind super-rookie Kris Bryant in the category entering Friday’s games (Bryant hit a home run against the Pirates, adding to his number by the end of the day) and sported the fifth best average among first year NL players. His four stolen bases trails only Odubel Herrera’s five.

With so much talk of the Padres additions from outside the organization, it certainly has to be a breath of fresh air to see one of their own homegrown players step up and be a big part of their lineup.

It isn’t likely that this is how the Padres envisioned him making his impact on the big league ball club, but if you recall – Josh Harrison finished in the top ten in the NL MVP voting after playing the same role that Spangenberg is currently filling. Harrison saw time at both corner outfield positions, as well as second and third (with some short).

Doesn’t that sound a little familiar?