Matt Waldron stood in the Padres clubhouse on the first morning of spring training and recalled an afternoon a couple of weeks earlier back in San Diego. On that day, he had been seated alongside four teammates on a stage in front of a couple hundred elementary school children.

The days of the Knuckleball in Major League Baseball, are all but over. The likes of Phil Niekro, the only knuckleball pitcher in Baseball's 300-win / 3,000-strikeout club; Tim Wakefield, whose signature knuckleball allowed him to pitch for 19 seasons;

Rosario can be useful at multiple spots for the Padres, or he might end up playing left field more than second or third base