Padres keep Christian Bethancourt as unique hybrid

The San Diego Padres may lose 100 games this year, but Christian Bethancourt is in line to make things interesting at times.

Coming off a 94-loss season in 2016, the San Diego Padres don’t look any better this year. Three Rule 5 draft picks were kept on the Opening Day roster, and the starting rotation sorely lacks anything resembling an ace.

Manager Andy Green will have to think outside the box to navigate things this season, including using players  in unconventional ways. Christian Bethancourt has been predominantly been a catcher through four major league seasons, but he did make two pitching appearances for the Padres last season while hitting .228 with six home runs and 25 RBI over 73 games. He also played 12 games in the outfield in 2016.

The idea of using Bethancourt as a pitcher-catcher-outfielder hybrid first surfaced at the end of last season. Now that idea has become action, and here’s what Green had to say about how Bethancourt will be used.

"“(He’s a) pitcher,” Padres manager Andy Green told A.J. Cassavell of MLB.com. “That’s the way we’re looking at him primarily right now. … He gives us a flexibility that no other bullpen arm can do, which is pinch-hit capabilities, and cover the field capability.”"

Bethancourt could of course pinch-hit one inning, then stay in and take the mound  the next inning. That will give Green some flexibility for how he deploys his more traditional bench players, and with just three outfielders on their 25-man Opening Day roster it may be needed right off the bat.

Next: FanSided 2017 MLB season preview

Bethancourt had a 2.16 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP over 8.1 innings of Cactus League action this spring, for what that’s worth. He may not be helping protect a lot of leads out of the bullpen, but Green has suggested having Bethancourt available will particularly help navigate a first month-and-a half of the season where the Padres have just two days off.