I respect the baseball card argument that Manny Machado made Friday.

Here’s the gist of it:

Over the rest of this season, several Padres hitters will trend upward. The career numbers on the back of their baseball cards, we will see, tell us more about these players’ aptitude than the season’s first 60 games did.

“We’re all better than we’ve been playing,” Machado said of a handful of veteran hitters who were expected to anchor the offense. “This isn’t going to last for a long time.”

I don’t think Machado was indulging in wishful thinking.

“That’s why we are positive about it,” said the seven-time All-Star, who entered the big leagues in 2012.

“We know that at the end of the year, we’re going to be right where we want to be,” he added.

Machado is prominent among the team’s projected core hitters who’ve underachieved their career marks through the season’s first third-plus.

Entering Friday’s series opener against the Mets, when Machado spoke with reporters, the cleanup man had a .174 batting average, a .176 batting average on all balls in play and a poor total in weighted runs created.

His strikeout rate was up, too, although he had 11 home runs and a career-best walk rate.

Machado’s career spans almost 2,000 games.

While his underlying stats must be considered, too — and they’re mixed — it’s fair to expect the 33-year-old will hit a lot better than .176 for the rest of the season.

It would be a big surprise if Machado fails to lift his runs created of 76 several points closer to his career 121 mark.

Likewise, Fernando Tatis Jr., 27, seems almost certain to hit several more home runs after hitting just one coming into this weekend. He hit 17 to 42 home runs in each of his other six seasons.

Jackson Merrill’s baseball card requires fewer lines. The 23-year-old played just 271 games entering this year, and put up very good numbers: a .280 batting average, a 488 slugging rate and an adjusted OPS of 121 in the 1,076 plate appearances.

Will the “positive regression” helium give Merrill a sustained lift, too, moving him well above the 207 batting average, .341 slug rate and adjusted OPS of 76 he brought into Friday?

If it doesn’t, a few scouts with other teams will express surprise.

The “baseball card argument” goes only so far, however.

Machado is past the typical prime years. The same holds for Xander Bogaerts. Also 33, the Padres shortstop has slumped to a batting average (.231) and adjusted OPS (87) that sit well below his career marks of .285 and 113.

A daunting double trend is confronting this Padres’ offense.

As Machado, Bogaerts, and injury-sidelined second baseman Jake Cronenworth, 32, have moved away from the typical prime years, major-league pitchers have increased velocity and spin rate, while also becoming less predictable and more adept at pitch shaping.

Or, put simply: It’s become harder for hitters to anticipate what a pitcher throws. And there’s less time to react to the pitch.

In Machado’s rookie season, for example, the fastballs he faced averaged 92.4 mph.

This year, it’s 95.9 mph.

Also, while pitchers today are throwing far fewer fastballs per game, many of them have increased the types of fastballs they throw.

Phillies star Zack Wheeler on Thursday, for example, commanded three different fastballs — a four-seamer, a sinker and a cutter.

Relying on his fastballs against Machado, Wheeler won duels before Machado launched one for a home run in his last at-bat off the starter.

“Listen, the game has evolved,” Machado said.

“Not just on the sports side of it,” he added. “The Padres got bought for $3.9 billion (subject to MLB approval that’s expected to come this month). Things are evolving. The sport is evolving.

“There’s a lot of guys that are definitely throwing harder.”

Commending today’s hitters, too, Machado noted the astounding power of Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, 34, and Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber, 33.

So, let’s take stock of where the Padres stand.

The Padres have good reason to believe that Machado, Tatis and Merrill will show significant gains over the next four months, with Bogaerts looking to weather a recent one-month falloff.

But they’ll face a lot of very good pitching, with Machado and Bogaerts also trying to combat the aging curve in a couple of cases.

As for A.J. Preller, the team’s general manager, he’s tasked with a growing challenge. For the Padres to earn their fourth wild-card playoff berth in five full seasons, upgrades will be needed within the offense and rotation.