Padres phenom shares what he sees from Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill behind the scenes

The San Diego Padres have been one of the staples of postseason baseball for half a decade. Powered by the talents of Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado, the squad now also features names like Jackson Merrill, Gavin Sheets and Xander Bogaerts to supplement the batting order.

Although they belong to the most heavily stacked division in the National League, the Padres have continued to be on par with their main rival, the LA Dodgers, in terms of counting stats and averages.

In an interview on SiriusXM, newly-minted Padre Gavin Sheets revealed his experience sharing the dugout with the league's brightest stars such as Tatis, Machado and Merrill.

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"To be around guys like Merrill, Tatis, and Machado and just see their way to go about business and what they do behind the scenes has been a blast to watch," said Sheets. (0:14-0:26)

"It's beneficial to me to be a part of that [group] and kind of feed of from those guys and be a part of the lineup that constantly puts pressure on pitchers from one through nine and feel like anybody in the lineup can do damage anytime is pretty special." (0:27-0:39)

Sheets further praised the team's lineup for being a complete package and always ready to slug when needed.

"It's been one of the best lineups that I've ever been a part of. Just the star power we have from top to bottom and the way we can hurt the other team in so many ways [on offense], it's pretty special." (0:01-0:12)

The first baseman/outfielder spent four years with the White Sox before transferring to the Padres ahead of the 2025 season. Sheets is currently batting .264 with an OPS of .786, 13 home runs, and 49 RBI this season.

From toiling around and spending his time with the Southsiders, he now features in a batting order alongside six MLB All-Stars, namely, Tatis, Merrill, Machado, Bogaerts, Luis Arraez and Jake Cronenworth.

Padres shut down by Zack Wheeler

In an uncharacteristic game, the San Diego Padres were utterly shut down by Philadelphia Phillies ace Zack Wheeler during the two teams' encounter on June 30. Wheeler gave up just six hits and recorded 10 punch-outs against a high-powered San Diego offense in eight innings.

The Phillies came away with the easy 4-0 win as the Friars stranded seven runners in scoring position during the affair. The latter now have a chance to bounce back as the two sides battle in a doubleheader, with the first contest kicking off at 1 p.m. Eastern time.

About the author

Daniel Santiago is a journalist who has been reporting on baseball at Sportskeeda since 2022. He was drawn towards the sport after the underlying statistics and the analysis surrounding it grabbed his attention.

Daniel particularly enjoys furnishing reports about historic events in baseball and analyzing the game through a statistic-based outlook, based on Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference. This is in line with how he enjoyed watching baseball as a pastime. As a writer, he is very particular about cross-checking from reputable sources and doing his due diligence.

He became a lifelong Hideki Matsui fan after his exploits in the 2009 World Series for the New York Yankees. Among the current generation, Daniel's favorites include Shohei Ohtani and Jung Hoo Lee. Daniel is a huge follower of Asian baseball and both Ohtani and Lee have been in the top echelon of their respective leagues during their time with the NPB and KBO.

His favorite moment as a baseball fan was the final at-bat of the 2023 World Baseball Classic between Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. He believes there aren't many words to fittingly describe the intensity of the moment.

As an avid sports fan, Daniel watches other sports and Esports when not writing about baseball.

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Edited by Daniel Santiago