Nick Hundley is not impressed with Yasmani Grandal... at ALL

Sure, Nick Hundley’s refusal to mince words says a lot about the battle Yasmani Grandal faces when he returns to the Padres a little less than three weeks hence.

“You want to talk about a guy who is unproven and had a good couple months on steroids, go ahead,” Hundley said on Wednesday.

But it’s what Hundley said next that makes this more about him than Grandal.

“I’ve got a job to do,” Hundley continued.

His job. He’s the Padres catcher.

Grandal will be eligible to return from his 50-game suspension on May 28. The Padres have publicly supported him without condoning what he did to earn that punishment.

“They’ll both have jobs,” manager Bud Black said. “They’ll both play. … This will be performance based.”

Hundley couldn’t care less.

“I haven’t given it any thought,” he said.

I believe him when he says so. Here’s why.

It was almost a month ago that I had last spoken at length with Hundley, and he talked then about his new approach.

“I don’t look too far ahead or too far behind,” he said. “I’ve wasted plenty of time in my career and in my life playing the what-if game.”

He had just finished a series against the Dodgers in which he went 7-for-11 with two doubles and a homer. It was already a fantastic start to 2013 for the man whose horrid 2012 has been hashed again and again.

He spoke of there being times the weeds threatened to choke his thoughts and how he works to quickly eradicate the negative. It was like talking to a less-annoying Tony Robbins or attending a 12-step meeting. Hundley said with utmost confidence that he was absolutely “not going to let” himself slip into the stinking thinking.

“You go back and look at the work you’ve put in,” he said.

And it is just a fact that if you weren’t rooting for Hundley to sustain his rebound, you have a cold, black, dead heart.

But over 20 years of covering sports at the highest level — of being repeatedly thrilled as well as let down, misled and used — you grow accustomed to things not quite going as you’d expect, nor as you’d prefer.

Rather than immediately writing about Hundley then, I wanted to wait to see if he was back for real.

After we spoke, he got his batting average to a season-high .367 with two doubles that night.

In 19 games since then, his average has dropped 97 points. A hitless Wednesday means he’s 0-for-17 over the past five games.

Yes, he will need to hit over a sustained period in order to keep his job.

But there is far less doubt now that he will do so.

Hundley’s progression is reflected in much more than numbers.

“You don’t see the head dropping, the shoulders slouching anymore,” said John Baker, the Padres’ backup catcher.

“There were a lot of times,” Hundley said, “I would get a solid swing and wouldn’t get the results and I’d wonder what was wrong.”

Now, he can look at his current five-game hitless streak and not be satisfied but live with the knowledge he swung well enough that he “could have easily had five or six hits.”

He knows now the hits will come.

“Last year was a big learning experience for Nick in a number of areas,” Black said.

“First of all, he learned he doesn’t have to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders.”

He knows now he only has to worry about today and just be a part of the team.

He knows he is a part of the team, regardless of what happens with Grandal.


(utsandiego.com)