The San Diego Padres’ All-Star Xander Bogaerts spent all of his 11 years in MLB playing shortstop. But in 2024, Bogaerts will have to learn a new position as he’s being moved to second base.
Speaking with reporters earlier this week, Padres’ manager Mike Shildt confirmed that Bogaerts is shifting positions with Golden Glove Award-winner Ha-Seong Kim moving to shortstop. According to Shildt, the switch was made in order to maximize Kim’s abilities as a defender.
“I don’t want to misrepresent: Xander Bogaerts played a really good shortstop for the San Diego Padres last year and was a positive part of us,” Shildt said. “But he recognizes Kimmy’s value at shortstop and is a good teammate for that.”
The Padres inked Bogaerts to an 11-year, $280 million deal ahead of the 2023 season with the intention of making him their shortstop for the foreseeable future. The two sides did discuss a potential position switch at the time, but neither Bogaerts nor Padres expected it to happen so fast.
“I signed as a shortstop, but to me, I just live and die baseball,” said Bogaerts. “I was like, ‘Listen, man, if this is the way you guys view the team as better.’”
Bogaerts, who has four All-Star nods to his name, batted .285 with 19 homers, 58 RBIs, and 19 stolen bases in 155 games in 2023.
Kim, who mostly played second base last season but saw action at shortstop and third base as well, had a .260 batting average, 17 home runs, 60 RBIs, and 38 stolen bases in 152 games.
