\u201crule-follower\u201d<\/a> that Michael King declared in spring training. And in the absence of rules, Pivetta has no problem establishing law and order in something that can be as chaotic as fitting a couple dozen personalities onto a bus.<\/p>\n\u201cI don\u2019t mean for it to be a big deal,\u201d Pivetta said. \u201cI think, for me, it\u2019s just where we sit throughout the year. It just keeps order. Whenever something happens \u2014 guys get called up, sent down, somebody gets hurt, somebody comes back \u2014 it just keeps the house in order.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yes, someone\u2019s got to be that guy.<\/p>\n
Then there are the kind of guys like Samad Taylor and Will Wagner. They are without a doubt superstitious.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I go out there today and get a couple knocks, I\u2019ll come back tomorrow wearing the same perfume,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cIf I spray it three times and go out there and get a hit, the next day I\u2019ll spray it three times again and use the same perfume.\u201d<\/p>\n
With that, Taylor opened up the cubby atop his locker to show off his collection.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s got fragrances that smell like laundry in the morning, sandalwood and applewood and plenty in between.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis one has hits in it,\u201d Taylor said as he pulled out a Barakkat Rouge. \u201cThe Azzaro has knocks in it. The Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue. But for the most part, if you look at the success I\u2019ve had (before landing on the injured list with an oblique strain), I\u2019d say pretty much all of them have knocks in them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wagner\u2019s got some similar ticks.<\/p>\n
Like if he goes hitless after using the corner shower, Wagner will look for some hits in a different showerhead the following day. If he wears an arm sleeve and wrist tape and does not get a hit, the next day he might tape up both wrists instead.<\/p>\n
\u201cOr if I\u2019m really struggling,\u201d said Wagner, currently at Triple-A El Paso, \u201cI go no swag at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Randy V\u00e1squez\u2019s start-day to-do list isn\u2019t as much about a superstition that locks him in as it is getting a rise out of lockermate Wandy Peralta.<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old Dominican laughs as he relays his antics through interpreter Jorge Merlos.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing I like to do when I\u2019m getting ready for my start day is I\u2019ll put my bag, my shoes, my cleats \u2014 everything \u2014 by Wandy\u2019s locker,\u201d V\u00e1squez said. \u201cWandy goes right to, \u2018Hey, I told you I don\u2019t want any of that stuff in my locker. That\u2019s my locker. You\u2019re not supposed to put anything there.\u2019 That kind of eggs him on every time I do it, so I keep doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
V\u00e1squez is far from done.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother thing is \u2026 I\u2019ll grab Wandy\u2019s sandals and wear those instead. Then sooner or later he comes to find me and says, \u2018Hey, man, what are you doing? Get your own sandals. Those are my sandals. Where are they?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cSo he ends up spending a good amount of time trying to find me.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the Padres\u2019 elder statesmen, Xander Bogaerts, might be the most superstitious guy in the clubhouse.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has to do everything at a specific time, be out there at a specific time, and have certain things,\u201d lockermate Jake Cronenworth said. \u201cEverything has to be in order.\u201d<\/p>\n
Told of the clubhouse consensus, the 33-year-old shortstop paused and thought for a second.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Then he seemed to understand the optics.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, OK, yeah,\u201d Bogaerts said with a laugh. \u201cBut I just tend to do a lot of it mostly out of habit. It\u2019s not that I\u2019m thinking, \u2018This is what I did before the game.\u2019 Just like I grab the rosin bag every inning. I tend to pee every inning, too, just because I have to pee. If I don\u2019t, then I don\u2019t, but I tend to go every inning.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s just more like what I\u2019m used to doing, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
Told of Mason Miller\u2019s working theory on this sort of thing \u2014 \u201cWe don\u2019t have superstitions, just winning routines,\u201d the Padres\u2019 closer said \u2014 Bogaerts smiled.<\/p>\n
He can definitely cop to that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a good one,\u201d Bogaerts said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To the untrained eye, Nick Pivetta is guilty as charged. He\u2019s still working his way back from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,1334,74,76,75,2611,127],"class_list":["post-410921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mlb","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}