San Diego Padres designated hitter Gavin Sheets, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)
The San Diego Padres have been a force to reckon with three weeks into the 2025 MLB season. They hold the best record in the majors at 13-3, leading the National League West by 1.5 games over the San Francisco Giants, and are top-10 in both runs scored and runs allowed per game.
One of the many reasons for San Diego’s blistering start has been the play of 29-year-old outfielder Gavin Sheets. Primarily serving as the designated hitter this season, Sheets has compiled 12 hits and eight RBIs in 38 at-bats. His .316 batting average would be the best of his career.
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Two of Sheets’ 12 hits have been home runs, one of which came in a pinch-hit at-bat on opening day to spark a San Diego rally past the Atlanta Braves, 7-4.
The lefty slugger is in his first year with the Padres after spending his first four MLB seasons with the Chicago White Sox, and he has quickly become somewhat of a fan favorite. Yet Sheets’ hot start with the best team in baseball and throngs of adoring fans didn’t seem likely just five months ago.
On Nov. 22 — after wrapping up a season in which his batting average was .233, he struck out more times than he got a hit, and his team set a modern-era record for most losses in one season (121) — the White Sox non-tendered Sheets and forced him into free agency.
“I didn’t see it coming,” Sheets told the San Diego Union-Tribune earlier this month. “But it’s part of the game. It’s part of where [the White Sox were] at. … Looking back at it now, it fueled me a little bit to say the least. I thought that where they were at and where I was at, we could work together.”
Instead of dwelling on his ending in Chicago, however, Sheets turned his attention to the next step in his baseball career. Before long, the Padres — who finished with a 93-69 mark in 2024 — came calling. On Feb. 9, they signed Sheets to a minor-league contract.
Yet with six home runs in spring training, he impressed the front office so much that he was added to the opening-day roster. He hasn’t slowed down since.
“We have our superstars here,” Sheets told MLB.com after his opening-day performance. “I knew that I wasn’t coming in to be a superstar. I was coming in to add depth and lengthen the lineup out as long as possible, come off the bench if needed, just do whatever.”
Sheets’ positive approach to what has been one of the more uncertain stretches of his baseball career is rooted ultimately in his faith in Christ. He writes “To God be the Glory” in both his Instagram and X bios, and he joined the Sports Spectrum Podcast this past offseason.
“Not making baseball my idol, that was the biggest thing,” Sheets said on the podcast about a rough year individually and as a team in 2024. “Being a man of faith in the clubhouse, leading guys in Bible study, leading guys in chapel, speaking on what was actually important in my life.
“Obviously baseball is a huge part of my life and it is very important to me, but it’s not everything. And being able to separate the results and the statistics with leading a Bible study, getting guys to [the White Sox’s Faith and Family Day], getting guys to chapel, walking guys in their faith. As difficult as it was at times to separate those two things, I think that when you take a step back from the season and you look back at things like Faith and Family and seeing guys that grew to Christ, you realize that the season wasn’t a failure in the grand scheme of life.”
Later, Sheets spoke about who Jesus is to him.
“Jesus Christ is my Savior,” he said. “He’s my Savior, He’s my Friend, He’s my Father. He’s everything that you want a man to be in your life. He’s my everything. When I’m in need, when I’m giving grace, when I’m giving thanks. He’s there when I’m at my highest of high and my lowest of low. Without Him — we don’t go through anything alone. He’s everything to me.”
In addition to his appearance on the podcast, Sheets also took the time to film an “I Once Was” video with Sports Spectrum in which he gave his testimony of faith. He shared a clip of the video on his Instagram page.
Sheets and his team will seek to continue the hot start with a three-game homestand against the Chicago Cubs (11-7). The first game is set for Monday at 9:40 p.m. ET.
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