As Trent Grisham walked to the plate, looked at Strike 3 or whiffed and walked back to the dugout over and over and over as the final days of the regular season ticked off the calendar, Bob Melvin’s refrain was consistent.The Padres’ first-year manager knew exactly what he was talking about.
Jim Leyritz hit four in helping the Padres reach the 1998 World Series. Greg Vaughn hit three of his own during that run and Ken Caminiti hit three in 1996. Yes, Grisham was still good for the occasional slug, hitting a career-high 17 homers — including a pair of walk-off homers — but he struck out 150 times in 152 at-bats and sat down looking 57 times, tops in the majors.
“He’s been Trent all year,” Padres third baseman Manny Machado said. “He hasn’t changed. Ultimately nobody wants to be in that position. Nobody wants to suck. But I don’t really see it that way. I think he played Gold Glove defense. He had homers, drove in a lot of runs. Had big, key moments for our team. The average didn’t show it but I think he brought a lot more to the table than people really thought and what’s he’s been doing so far has really carried this team.