The 2023 Major League Baseball season will be a first for Xander Bogaerts in many ways, but most notably is the fact the All-Star shortstop will take the field in a San Diego Padres uniform.
This past offseason Bogaerts departed from the Boston Red Sox, the organization he'd spent 10 seasons with after being signed in 2009. Bogaerts landed his payday in free agency and signed a mammoth 11-year, $280 million contract with San Diego in December. It closed one chapter and opened a new one in Bogaerts' career.
Now joining his new squad in the National League, the 30-year-old has had the chance to get acclimated with Padres teammates in spring training.
"I'm settling in really well," Bogaerts told MLB Network. "Supposedly, it's supposed to be a little hotter here. But yeah, that's the only bad thing so far from this spring but other than that, it's been really good for me to come out here a little earlier than normal. I got to get to know a lot of the guys, a lot of the coaching staff, front office people."
With Boston finishing dead last in the American League East last season, Bogaerts got to watch his future club embark on its postseason run in October.
"I remember being at home obviously last year the Red Sox didn't make the playoffs last year," Bogaerts said. "So watching pretty much all the games, these guys had a really good run. I actually thought they were gonna go all the way to the World Series but they ran into a pretty hot (Philadelphia Phillies team). But the expectation here, the excitement from the fans and just everyone in general is just so high. A lot of people just excited to watch the Padres."
San Diego finished second in the NL West to the league-best Los Angeles Dodgers, stumped in the NL Championship Series against the Phillies in five games.
Bogaerts, with 44 games of postseason experience including 11 in the World Series, notched his fifth career All-Star appearance and Silver Slugger last season. He'll get to debut with the Padres in front of the Petco Park home crowd in San Diego on March 30 against the Colorado Rockies.
