We touched on this in our “All-Overachiever Team” piece, but it’s too remarkable of a statistic to not go a little deeper.

San Diego Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is finding it a little harder to abuse opposing pitchers these days. The 27-year-old slugger has next to no lineup protection, so hurlers are blatantly working around him and taking their chances with Kevin Kouzmanoff.

That strategy has seriously prohibited Gonzalez’s fantasy value because he’s just not getting enough pitches to get into a good groove. His ability to drive the ball to all fields bodes well for his season home run total, but somebody on the Padres team is going to have to step up and protect him.

Gonzalez has 19 walks to just two strikeouts in nine June games, which has been the main culprit behind his seven-game homerless streak. At this point, there are no signs that opponents’ strategies are going to change. Kouzmanoff, with his .229 average and five home runs, just hasn’t made pitchers pay with runners on base.

We knew lineup protection and cavernous Petco Park would be negative factors on Gonzalez all season, but his ridiculously hot start had us doubting those facts. Well, they’re both catching up with him now. He’s all but assured to top his previous career-best homer total (36), but that 60-home run pace is quickly fading in the rearview mirror.