Padres News: Will Venable Making First Playoff Appearance with Rangers
On Thursday night, with a 5-3 victory over the division rival Los Angeles Angels, the Texas Rangers clinched a playoff spot for the first time since 2011. Notable for his place on the roster is former Padre Will Venable. This marks the first playoff appearance for Will Venable of his career, which began in 2008 and spanned eight seasons with the San Diego Padres before the August trade this year.
In a year marred in disappointment for the Padres, Will Venable making his first career playoff appearance may be one of the lone bright spots for the San Diego Padres faithful.
On August 18th of this year the Padres announced the trade of Will Venable to the Texas Rangers in return for catcher Marcus Greene and a player to be named later; that player ended up being reliever Jon Edwards. This trade marked the end of an era, as Will Venable was the longest tenured Padre prior to the trade.
Prior to the trade to the Rangers, Will Venable was having a decent year filling in with the injury to Wil Myers early in the season. Prior to the trade to the Rangers, Will Venable had a slash line of .258/.318/.378 with the Padres which was good for a wRC+ of 96. Since being traded to the Rangers, Venable has hit only .185/.329/.231 which has translated to a less than stellar wRC+ of 54.
While Venable was having a respectable year with the Padres, filling in admirably because of various injuries to Wil Myers, he has struggled to produce at the same level with the Rangers over the last month or so. It may be a case of struggling to adjust to the American League, due to the fact that he had never played in the American League in his career, or it could be some other factors entirely.
Regardless of his poor play so far with the Rangers, Venable is still in the playoffs for the first time, and has a decent chance of making the playoff roster for the Rangers. Venable provides a versatile backup outfielder for the Rangers who can play all three outfield positions and play good defense.
He also has a good eye at the plate, and can provide some speed off the bench. Despite his poor start with the Rangers, Venable could prove to be a critical part of the Rangers World Series push come October.
Editorial and Prospect Writer for East Village Times. Twenty-five years young, Patrick has lived in San Diego for his entire life and has been a Padres fan nearly as long. Patrick lives for baseball and is always looking to learn new things about the game he loves through advanced stats.