ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Almost a month into this regular season, the San Diego Padres are again nipping at the heels of the Los Angeles Dodgers, perennial rulers of the National League West. It's still April, of course. Keeping up with the two-time reigning World Series champions will require continued production from the Padres' shortest hitter.
Entering spring training, Ramón Laureano was still listed at a dubious 5 feet 11. Now, thanks to the precision required by MLB's Automated Ball-Strike system, he is down to 5 feet 9.
"It's interesting to see how that is a little bit lower," Laureano said before Sunday's 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels moved the Padres (15-7) to a half-game behind the Dodgers. "Big stick still bigger, though. That's good."
Acquired from the Baltimore Orioles in July, Laureano has been perhaps San Diego's most reliable player; since his arrival, he leads the club's qualifying hitters in home runs, OPS, batting average and wRC+. A shattered finger sidelined him last fall as the Padres offense disappeared in the National League Wild Card Series. In 2026, the recently minted leadoff man has resumed his steadiness, batting .273 with four homers while providing improved defense in left field.
"He's just a gamer," said right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr., one of two former shortstops in the Padres outfield. "He's a really good baseball player."
What Laureano isn't: a former professional infielder or, like Tatis and center fielder Jackson Merrill, 6 feet 3. ("I played a little shortstop in high school, but not really a good level," Laureano said. "It was a horses -- level in high school.")
According to Baseball Reference, Laureano is one of two active 5-foot-9 outfielders who have compiled at least 18 career WAR. The other, future Hall of Famer Mookie Betts (75.3 WAR), has almost exclusively played shortstop for the Dodgers since the start of 2025. And there are signs that Laureano, 31, might still be getting better.
Last season, Laureano tempered the best offensive output of his career with a career-worst minus-9 Outs Above Average. One of the primary reasons for his defensive decline was not lost on the veteran.
"I was, like, 95-plus percentile (going) back, and (coming) in, that's when I was bad," he said. "But that's because I was playing deeper."
This season, Laureano and Padres first-base coach and outfield instructor David Macias have settled on a shallower starting position. It's a subtle shift in a small sample, but the results have stood out. Laureano’s plus-2 outs above average ties him for third among all outfielders with seven others, including Tatis, a two-time Platinum Glove winner.
"With Macias, we've been doing tracking every day, all that stuff -- and how can we get more Outs Above Average," Laureano said. "We've been able to do that, thank God, this year."
The Padres are indeed grateful. Tatis, who has reintroduced second base to his repertoire, remains one of the game’s premier defenders. Merrill, in only his third season as a professional outfielder, has already robbed three home runs. Laureano has made multiple game-saving catches of his own.
Since he was traded to San Diego, the trio has combined for eight home run robberies. Laureano pulled off all three of his thefts in an 18-day span last summer. Of the team's starting outfielders, he's also easily the most experienced.
"Just straight ballers," Laureano said of Tatis and Merrill. "You're born with that. They anticipate every pitch coming to them. That's what it takes to be an excellent outfielder or excellent position player, right? And I think they have that in their instincts.
"The shortstop position -- they're like the second catcher, in a sense. They see everything, and they need to see everything. And if you put them in the outfield, they're going to make a lot of things happen."
Lately, Laureano has been the one making things happen on offense. Since moving into the leadoff spot April 5, he has homered in back-to-back games and supplied four multihit performances.
But just as importantly, he has not changed his approach. That remains the expectation, even after Laureano went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts Sunday.
"Every time we've put somebody in the leadoff (spot), they've kind of gone in a slump, and he just didn't go in a slump," first-year manager Craig Stammen said recently. "We saw a lot of good at-bats from him, and him being in that spot didn't affect his at-bats. He was taking them the same way whether he was batting first, fourth, sixth,seventh,eighth --you know when I was dumb putting him lower in the lineup.
"He also brings a little bit of an attitude,a little bit of an ankle-biter kind of guy that the guys love in the dugout and clubhouse."