Ramón

Laureano

Laureano gets an opportunity to bat towards the top of the order with Red Sox young southpaw Connelly Early taking the ball at Fenway Park. Xander Bogaerts, who has typically batted second, has been dropped to fifth against his former club. The 31-year-old is off to an encouraging start, hitting .318 (7-for-22) with two homers, four RBI and one steal through six games. A quick glance under the hood reveals a robust 49.1 percent hard-hit rate and 13.8 percent barrel percentage.

Few hitters have come out of the gate hotter than Laureano. He’s 7-for-18 in the early going and this home run was already his second. It was also the fatal blow in this game, stretching the Padres’ lead from two to four in the eighth inning before they wound up tacking on two more. This is an incredibly encouraging start after his huge bounceback last season.

Laureano takes a seat after making four consecutive starts in left field to open the season. The 31-year-old is off to a really strong start at the dish, hitting .357 (5-for-14) with one homer and one steal in four contests. It’ll be Nick Castellanos heading out to cover left field and face Giants ace Logan Webb.

Laureano tagged Tigers’ right-hander Drew Anderson for a 423-foot (106.0 mph EV) solo shot in the seventh inning of this one, pulling the Padres to within six runs at 8-2. He also struck out and filed out to left against Tarik Skubal. It appears as though the 31-year-old outfielder has picked right up where his tremendous 2025 season finished.

The Padres brought only one regular for this split-squad affair, and Laureano did his part, collecting a homer off Edwin Díaz on a fly down the right field line that didn’t actually register as a hard-hit ball (it was 94.6 mph off the bat). Laureano is now 10-for-35 with six extra-base hits this spring. He has, however, struck out in 16 of his 42 plate appearances, and that’s not going to cut it during the regular season.

It’s worth noting that Laureano, who is batting .250 (7-for-28) with one homer and 14 strikeouts in 11 spring games so far, was awful in spring training last year before putting together his strongest season in over a half-decade. The 31-year-old corner outfielder’s 23-homer, seven-steal effort between the Padres and Orioles last season was fueled by a significant uptick in hard contact and barrel rate. If those stick he’ll be an excellent late-round value in fantasy drafts this spring.

Same, honestly. Laureano will be given a break from facing Reds electric young righty Chase Burns in a meaningless spring contest. The 31-year-old corner outfielder experienced a significant uptick in hard contact and barrel rate last year, hitting .281/.342/.512 with a career-high 24 homers and seven steals in 132 games between the Padres and Orioles.

Rosenthal, Lin and Sammon add the Padres have expressed interest in the Mets’ trio of elite pitching prospects — Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat — while noting that franchise cornerstones Francisco Lindor and Fernando Tatis Jr. have not surfaced in trade discussions. Any deal involving those prospects would qualify as a blockbuster, though McLean’s inclusion would be especially surprising given that he’s been viewed as virtually untouchable since making his major-league debut late last season. New York remains in the market for an established front-line starter and an additional high-leverage reliever to pair with newly acquired stopper Devin Williams following Edwin Díaz’s departure to Los Angeles. While The Athletic notes that nothing appears imminent, this is a situation worth monitoring closely from a fantasy standpoint.

Laureano hit .281/.342/.512 with 24 homers for the Orioles and Padres before a fractured finger brought his 2025 season to an unfortunate end just before the playoffs. With Laureano in left, Jackson Merrill in center and Fernando Tatis Jr. in right, San Diego’s 2026 outfield appears settled.

The Padres announced earlier in the week that Laureano had been diagnosed with the fractured finger and that he would miss the first round of the postseason, but they didn’t need the roster spot until Saturday. Will Wagner was recalled from the Arizona Complex League to take his place on the active roster.