Baltimore native Gavin Sheets is the son of Larry Sheets, who played eight seasons in the major leagues. Drafted by the Chicago White Sox in 2017, the younger Sheets made his major league debut in 2021 and appeared in the postseason that same year. After a decline in production during the 2023 and 2024 seasons, Sheets was designated for assignment last offseason. Sheets later connected with Padres manager Mike Shildt and signed a minor-league contract with San Diego in February. Since joining the Padres, Sheets has been impactful, delivering several clutch hits and posting an .869 OPS against right-handed pitching.

The Union-Tribune talked to Sheets about his hometown, role and, yes, that chant. Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Jackson Merrill said earlier this year that Baltimore guys are built different. Would you agree with that and if so, why?

A: Absolutely. I think there’s always an edge for us baseball guys from Baltimore since not many guys play baseball. It’s definitely a football, lacrosse, basketball city. We’re kind of the few guys that chose baseball and made it a job and are still doing it today. We all know each other and support each other for sure.

So were you Orioles, Ravens and crab cakes growing up?

A: Absolutely. And nothing else. I mean, that’s all there is, right? (laughs) It’s still Ravens football and crab cakes. It’s what Baltimore does. I definitely stay true to that.

When did you first realize, ‘Hey, my dad played in The Show?’

A: So he wasn’t playing when I was born. He was out of the league. But I got to go to Camden Yards with him all the time. He would do sponsored events, and just kind of seeing the excitement that people got when he would show up and hearing old stories about him, that was always really cool to me as a kid. Obviously you look up to your dad no matter what, but just seeing the way the city rallied around him. … I got to do some pretty cool stuff with him.

I’m always fascinated by the relationship between professional athletes and their children. Was he hands-on or hands-off in terms of baseball?

A: He was super hands-off in terms of pushing me. He let me decide what I wanted to do. Obviously, I had a huge love for baseball, growing up around the game and going to the ballpark and, you know, seeing Camden Yards and being like, ‘This is what I want to do.’ But he never pushed me. It was always me asking to go hit or me asking to go throw or and he was always all for it. … That was always really cool for him to do, was to allow me to make that decision. And I think that’s why I really love the game.

Your dad was roommates with Padres hitting coach Victor Rodriguez when they were coming up in the Orioles organization. Was that an added comfort signing here?

A: Absolutely. You know, they just saw each other in Pittsburgh last week when we were there. They hadn’t seen each other for about 30 or 40 years. So they were hugging it out and we all went to lunch. I felt like I was chaperoning the lunch, just sitting there and letting them tell stories to each other and laugh about the good days. But no, that was awesome. And Victor treats me like family. I’ve played against him for a couple years when he was in Cleveland and I was in Chicago. Just having a familiar face here has been awesome.

A: One story after another. I was just sitting there, I just felt like a supervisor. Just like, ‘You guys have your fun. Whenever you guys are ready to go, we’ll go.’ … It was awesome, though, to see the enjoyment that they had.

Sometimes, there are unfair expectations put on children of professional athletes. Have you ever experienced that?

A: Yeah, I think you always experience it as a kid. Especially in Baltimore. He coached our high school too, so I think that right or wrong, there’s always those expectations around it. I think he handled it well and I think I handled it really well in terms of just, you can’t control any of that, you know? It’s just, control what you can control. And use it as an edge if you want. But we just kind of ignored it, which was nice.

Do you text or talk after every game?

A: Yeah. Well, now with the time zone (difference), I usually call him the next day. … It’s usually me calling him and we’ll just talk about the game. You know, what the at-bats were, who I faced the night before. … It’s just nice having that sounding board and understanding of how hard this game is.

The Atlanta Braves selected you in the 2014 draft but you chose to play for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Great name, by the way. Why did you forgo playing professionally at the time?

A: I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready to go to pro ball. I physically wasn’t ready, I mentally wasn’t ready. My dad did that route out of high school and he explained to me how tough it was. And it was always a dream of mine before playing pro ball, was to play in the ACC. And so to get an offer from Wake Forest — and a couple other teams but more importantly, Wake Forest — I knew that’s where I wanted to go and it was kind of a no-brainer for me. …. It was three best years of my life. I met my wife there. It was an experience that I would have never traded.

The White Sox drafted you in 2017 and you made your debut in June 2021. Do you remember who you got your first hit off of?

A: I do. Kenta Maeda.

Yes. And in that same game that you notched your first RBI and extra base-hit. The next day you hit your first major league home run. What were you thinking your first few months in the big leagues?

A: It was a dream. You know, coming up to a team that was first place in the division and playing winning baseball, and getting to come up and play for Tony La Russa, Hall of Fame manager, and just, every day was just an absolute blessing. I had so much fun with that. My dad always told me, because he played eight or nine years and he never played in the postseason, so he’s like, ‘You can’t take this for granted. You never know when it’s going to come back again.’ And I just enjoyed every second of it. But to be in the postseason and to play for a team like that was incredible.

The next several years were tougher for you in terms of production. How would you explain what happened during that period?

A: Yeah, it was tough. You know, 2022 we were right in the mix of things. And then Tony left because of health problems at the end of that year, and him and I were really close. And ‘23 and ‘24 was kind of a whirlwind, for me personally and for us as an organization in Chicago. I definitely lost my love for baseball a little bit. It just became a dark cloud showing up to the ballpark every day for multiple different reasons. It was hard. It was hard to produce, it was hard to, you know, to think about, ‘Is this still what I want to do?’ And that was something that I took a step back from this offseason. Got my love back for baseball, and coming here was a true blessing.

Did you think about leaving the game during that time? What were those conversations like with yourself or whoever you leaned on?

A: You really got to figure out why you play this game. Is it for the love of it? Is it to do it as a career? Does it provide for your family? For me, it’s always been the love of the game. I’ve never done this for the money or for anything. It’s just because I love playing the game. And that was the hardest thing for me was kind of losing that love. … Unfortunately, a lot of guys there were feeling the same way and it was just a tough atmosphere. This offseason was definitely a time to find somewhere where I can get out of that and get back to playing for the love of the game.

Those were historic losing seasons for the White Sox, which you’ve always been so respectful about. But I can only imagine as a human being how that type of environment must have impacted you and your teammates at some point.

A: Yeah, absolutely. And I think coming up too, in ‘21 and ‘22 and just seeing such an incredible city to play baseball. Chicago was awesome. Absolutely love Chicago. I love the fanbase. And just seeing how quickly everything changed, that was really hard. Just the way the culture changed, the way the place changed. I loved showing up to the ballpark, and all of a sudden, it just turned into a place that I almost despised. That was tough for me. I felt bad for the fanbase. I felt bad for the city because, you know, I had seen it at its best. Yeah, that was hard.

It seems like the fit here in San Diego has been great for both sides.

A : It’s been huge. Working with these guys here and working with all the hitting coaches, the biggest thing is just the confidence that they instill. Whether it’s Shildty, whether it’s teammates, whether it’s Manny and Tati and these guys around me, just the confidence that they instill daily, it’s making you feel like you’re the best. And there’s something to that. There’s absolutely something to that. Obviously, I made swing changes here that are fantastic and have truly worked. But just the confidence in the room around you, that’s been one of the biggest things.

How hard is it when you’re a hitter to not over-tinker, but tinker enough to try to find the right feeling?

A: That’s the thing. I think you use the numbers, but you also use the feel. So it’s a little bit of both things. They brought some numbers to me and some positions that they thought would really help me if I got into. And then it was about finding what made it comfortable. How do I get in these positions? How do I make this data click? And that’s what they were really good about: giving me the numbers but also giving me the feels and helping me through that. It was a great combination.

Besides baseball, what else is important to you in your life?

A: Family. My faith is huge to me. In the offseason, I love being outdoors, hunting, fishing, golfing. I keep it pretty simple.

In another interview, you mentioned that baseball would never be the most important thing in your life. I know that perspective is partly rooted in your faith, but is that also something your dad instilled in you?

A: Absolutely. No matter how high or how low you’re going, you know, baseball is not your identity. It should never change who you are as a person, what your morals are, everything that’s important to you. And it’s easy to happen, you know? It’s something that we do every single day. It’s high-pressure situations, it’s our careers. But I think for us, we want the fans to know: We’re people. We’re human beings. As soon as we leave the ballpark, we go back to being dads, husbands, sons, and that’s huge to us.

We’ve heard the “Holy Sheets” chant at Petco Park, which is pretty cool. But I bet that growing up, people had some fun with your last name. What are some of the nicknames you’ve heard over the years?

A: Yeah, you hope it’s all positive, because it can go negative real quick with my last name (laughs). So as long as it’s positive, I’m all for it. Obviously, the “Holy Sheets” stuff here has been incredible. A lot of fun, you know, just to be brought in by this fanbase so quickly. But a lot of “Sheetsy” and stuff like that. Nothing crazy.

Favorite meal?

A: If I’m in Baltimore, I’m going crab cakes. Nowhere else, though. I don’t do crab cakes anywhere other than Baltimore.

Spoken like a true Baltimore native.

A: I’m stubborn. I just, no matter where I go, it’s not the same. But if I’m not in Baltimore, a barbecue. I love barbecue.