The time has come for the Padres to find out what Wil Myers can do at third base.

The move by a team that enters its Saturday night game against the Phillies with a 47-71 record and in full discovery mode, is also so it can see what others can do in the outfield.

Wil Myers’ tutoring at third base has reached the cramming-for-finals stage, and it is virtually certain he will start there Monday when he is expected to be activated off the disabled list.

“The same way we pushed our kids in the deep end,” manager Andy Green said of the logic behind a debut that will come after a couple weeks of Myers taking grounders at third with increasing urgency. “Just swim. At some point in time, you’ve just got to go.”


Myers will play third base for Single-A Lake Elsinore on Sunday in a one-game rehab assignment as he prepares to come off the DL after suffering bone bruise in his foot on Aug. 2. It will be his first time at the position since he played there late in the 2012 season while in Triple-A in the Royals organization.

“We don’t expect it to be a polished, finished product when he comes back,” Green said. “There is literally nothing for him to lose here, just an opportunity to see what a great athlete he can be on a baseball field. He’s game for it. He’s excited about it.”

This will be the fifth position Myers has played in the majors. (He was drafted as a catcher but hasn’t played there since 2011 in Single-A.)

“Any change of scenery is nice,” said Myers, who started at first base the past two season before moving back to the outfield when the Padres signed Eric Hosmer this spring. “… I do enjoy bouncing around.”


Saturday afternoon, Myers took part in two intensive practice sessions. He took dozens of grounders, made throws from multiple angles and even worked on making a turn at second base for the event he is positioned there in a shift.

“I’ve been doing a lot of work,” he said with a chuckle. “I feel good. I feel prepared to do it. I’m excited about the opportunity.

Myers, who has looked awkwardly awesomely athletic at third in much the same way he was at first base, said the footwork and being in the correct body position to receive grounders has been biggest challenge. He acknowledge the angles and motion of the throws are different but said, “I feel my arm will play better in the infield than the outfield.”

Myers, who has missed 74 games to various injuries this season, has started 30 games in left field, nine in right and two at first base. He also played an inning in center field.


To this point, Myers and Green had been coy about the pending move. And to some extent, they still were on Saturday.

“Just a minor league game,” Myers said at first. “No, I’m excited about it. Obviously there is something to that. I just want to go there and show I can play some third base and get some game experience before – if and when – it happens here.”

Green never explicitly acknowledged Myers will play there Monday. But neither did he deny the undeniable evidence the Padres have been ramping up his preparation. And everything Green did say pointed toward that being the case.

When it was pointed out how well Christian Villanueva played on the last road trip (9-for-21, two doubles, one homer) and Green was asked what he was going to do when Myers started playing third, the manager laughed before giving an earnest answer.


“We’re going to figure out how versatile we are as a club,” Green said. “We’ll take some looks at some different alignments. Where we sit right now, it only makes sense to try some things. It doesn’t mean were going to marry any one of them. But it means you’ve got to take a chance to look at things and put guys in unique positions. I don’t think we’re going to shy away from that over the next couple months.”

Villanueva, who has turned from defensive liability to a sure-handed third baseman over the past 2½ months, is batting .343/.391/.762 against left-handers and .180/.248/.315 against righties this season.

Myers could end up playing multiple positions in one game or switch back and forth from game to game.

When he does play third, it opens up an outfield spot, which the Padres need for the ongoing auditions of Franmil Reyes, Hunter Renfroe and Travis Jankowski in the corner spots.


In particular, they need to see if Renfroe and Reyes can maintain anything like what they have done recently when playing close to every day.

Renfroe has improved in almost every facet of his game versus last season and is batting .333/.351/758 with four home runs in eight starts this month. Reyes is 9-for-18 with three homers and two doubles in his past five starts.

For essentially the same reason he was amenable to the move from first base to make way for Hosmer, Myers is happy to make this move. He has acknowledged in the past that he prefers the infield, and he seems more excited about this than his spring shift.

“It’s something that can benefit the team just to give them that option,” he said. “… It’s cool to see all those guys … be quality big leaguers. I think this move is to give them more opportunity and let them play.”


kevin.acee@sduniontribune.com