Gavin Sheets

News to know about your San Diego Padres and MLB for March 9, 2026.

Burns hit some turbulence in the opening inning, as a two-out walk to Nick Castellanos was quickly followed by a three-run blast from Gavin Sheets. The encouraging takeaway was the underlying stuff: Burns averaged 97 mph on his four-seam fastball and generated 11 swinging strikes, including nine on his slider alone. The 23-year-old flamethrower remains one of the most electric young arms in the game, armed with legitimate, stratospheric strikeout upside. The refinement is still in progress -- understandable for someone who reached the majors last season after just 13 minor-league starts -- but the swing-and-miss foundation is real. Outside the true upper echelon of fantasy starters, few pitchers offer this kind of strikeout ceiling. Drafting him requires tolerance for volatility, but sometimes volatility is simply the tax you pay for access to something potentially overwhelming.

The right-hander also issued three free passes in the ballgame while striking out three. Brown struggled with his command in the opening inning, issuing a bases-loaded walk to Gavin Sheets. He allowed another pair in the third inning as Nick Castellanos delivered an RBI single and then another run scored on a wild pitch. Brown threw just 29 of his 48 pitches for strikes in the ballgame, getting five whiffs and posting a CSW of 25 percent. If he continues to struggle like this, Brown is likely ticketed for Triple-A Iowa to start the season.

The first base experiment has gone swimmingly for both San Diego and Castellanos during the early stages of camp. The 33-year-old veteran doesn't offer a ton of fantasy appeal at this stage of his career but he makes sense as a platoon partner with righty-masher Gavin Sheets at the cold corner and could pry some at-bats away from Miguel Andujar at DH, especially if he gets off to a hot start at the dish.