Will Middlebrooks, who has struggled at the plate while trying to convert to shortstop at midseason, was demoted to San Diego’s Triple-A affiliate in El Paso on Wednesday.
Middlebrooks, who was acquired from the Boston Red Sox last offseason, is hitting just .212 and has two hits in his last 20 at-bats. The former third baseman also committed two errors at shortstop on Sunday and was replaced in the starting lineup Monday by Alexi Amarista, who committed an error in San Diego’s 4-2 win vs. the San Francisco Giants.
Middlebrooks had been expected to play more shortstop, sharing time with Clint Barmes.
“(It’s) asking him to do a whole lot, but he’s just the type of guy who can do it because he’s so athletic,” Padres interim manager Pat Murphy said last weekend. “I think it’s rejuvenated him a little bit. It’s a work in progress. It’s not anything that’s going to be easy, but he’s making it look easy right now. There’s a lot to learn; he knows that.”
After Middlebrooks committed his errors Sunday in a postponed game against the Colorado Rockies, Murphy said, “We knew there were going to be days like that, and you saw it first-hand.”