What to do with MacKenzie Gore?

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MacKenzie Gore is temporarily headed to the bullpen.

Ahead of the forthcoming All-Star break, the Padres decided to ease the burden on Gore, skipping his final turn in the rotation and moving him to the ’pen. Gore is expected to get one relief appearance at some point this weekend against the D-backs. Then, coming out of the All-Star break, the Padres will likely push Gore toward the back end of what’s expected to be a six-man rotation.

The Padres are slow-playing their 23-year-old rookie. And, really, it's hard to argue with anything they've done in their handling of Gore during the first half.

"There's nothing necessarily -- or at least we haven't talked about it -- set in stone," Gore said of his progression. "It depends on how I'm feeling and what they see. And we all see it right now, that it's not as electric, or whatever you want to call it. It's not as sharp.

"But even if it was, we knew from a workload standpoint, we would have to do it at some point. This is a good time to do it."

Already this season, the Padres have managed to limit Gore's workload to the point where he's pitched only 68 1/3 big league innings (in addition to five in the Minors). That should line him up to be very available in the second half.

Lately, however, Gore's stuff hasn't been quite so electric. He was roughed up by the Giants last Sunday, and his fastball velocity has dipped noticeably. Gore’s ERA has jumped from 2.50 to 4.08 in the span of a month.

"For every starting pitcher, there's a time in the season where you dip, and then at some point you get your second wind," Gore said. "That's what we're going through. But I feel better -- and feel like we're getting going in the right direction."

Gore is insistent that he can regain his velocity with some mechanical tweaks. Some additional rest might help, too -- especially if he can spend a chunk of that time working with pitching coach Ruben Niebla to make those tweaks.

Still, even if Gore has a second-half resurgence as a starting pitcher, this almost certainly won't be the last time he pitches out of the bullpen. He threw 101 innings in the Minors in 2019, which were a career high. But, for an assortment of reasons, Gore didn’t really pitch much over the next two seasons.

As such, Gore will continue as a starter after the break. But at some point, his workload will be limited. If the Padres want to make sure he’s available for the stretch run, his best path might be a relief role. Some in the organization wonder whether Gore might even become something of a late-season relief ace, with his stuff playing up in short bursts.

"It's really whatever makes us better," Gore said. "I also understand that there's going to have to be some [limitations] going forward. And if it makes us better, I'm all for it."