Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. was placed on the injured list with a stress reaction in his thigh, joining several teammates who are also dealing with injuries.
The San Diego Padres can’t catch a break.
Already trailing the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers by 8.5 games in the National League West, star right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. was placed on the injured list this week with a stress reaction in his right thigh bone.
Tatis is unsure when he will be able to get back in the lineup, but it will definitely not be until after the All-Star break in mid-July. Tatis has been playing through the injury for much of the first half, but he decided this week that it was time to shut down until he felt better.
“I have some serious stuff in my leg that could get worse, and I definitely don’t want that,” Tatis
told reporters following the Padres’ 7–6 victory over the Washington Nationals on Monday. “I was playing through it, and I probably could have kept going, but the doctors recommended ... to heal it now so that way it doesn’t get worse. It’s just better that way.”
Tatis is
batting .279 with 14 home runs, 36 RBI, and a .821 OPS through 80 games (308 at-bats) this season. He has also managed
eight stolen bases despite the injury, which is believed to have hampered how he runs in the outfield and on the bases.
Tatis currently ranks fourth in
All-State voting among National League outfielders, behind teammate Jurickson Profar, Christian Yelich (Brewers), and Teoscar Hernández (Dodgers).
Tatis did not want to give a specific timeline for his return to the lineup because of the uncertainty and pain of the injury.
“I don’t want to put it out there because people are going to expect stuff. But it’s going to be some time,” he
told reporters on Monday. “We know with the right stuff we’re trying to aim after the All-Star Game, but, you know, we’re talking about something serious in my bone, in my right leg.”
Padres manager Mike Shildt could use multiple players to take Tatis’s spot in the lineup. The switch-hitting Bryce Johnson, who has just two bats on the season, is one option to get more opportunities. Shildt could also use David Peralta, a left-handed hitter
who is batting .200 with 4 RBIs over 26 games (55 at-bats) this season. Fellow outfielder Tyler Wade is also an option on certain days.
Tatis, however, is not the only Padres high-profile player dealing with an injury.
Right-handed pitcher Yu Darvish is being held out of his next scheduled start Tuesday against the Nationals because of right elbow inflammation after missing nearly a month of action because of a groin injury. Darvish also spent 15 days on the Injury List in April with neck tightness and returned to make six starts before enduring the groin injury. He also missed the final month of the 2023 season with a bone spur in the elbow.
Darvish is
4–3 with a 3.20 ERA over 11 starts this season. Shildt does not believe the latest injury will become a long-term setback.
“Those guys will be back at some point, and they’ll be reinforcements,” Shildt
said at a press conference on Monday. “It’ll be like huge trade pieces for us. But no one’s gonna feel sorry for us. We got to buckle down and figure out how we’re gonna compete to win baseball games. And we’ll do that.”
To offset the loss of Darvish, the Padres
recalled right-hander Adam Mazur from Triple-A El Paso on Monday. Mazur has started four games for the Padres this season. He allowed three runs on five hits and three walks over 4.2 innings in the previous start on Friday against the Milwaukee Brewers.
In addition, Profar has been playing through left knee patellar tendinitis, but he is still
batting .317 with 10 home runs and 50 RBIs over 81 games (278 at-bats this season), which has put him in a position to start the All-Star game.
Star third baseman Manny Machado has a right hip flexor strain, but he has also been able to avoid the injured list. Machado is
batting .260 with 7 home runs and 38 RBIs over 75 games (285 at-bats). Machado is second in All-Star voting behind Alec Bohm of the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Padres are 42–41 this season and have been criticized for underachieving over the past couple of years. They have not
won 90 games since the 2010 season. Despite having one of the highest payrolls in the league before this season, the Padres made the playoffs just twice in the last four years.
San Diego
has pared down its payroll from $176.8 million in 2023 to $153.8 million this season and traded star Juan Soto to the Yankees this past offseason. Soto has been a huge boost to the Yankees lineup and is batting .305 with 18 home runs and 56 RBIs over 77 games (279 at-bats) this season.
For now, the Padres are just looking to overcome the recent spate of injuries and stay in the playoff race.
“The show goes on,” Shildt
said on Monday after announcing the injuries. “We’ve got to figure out how to continue to move this mission forward. We’re going to get contributions from a lot of different people, and we’ve got to continue to find ways to shake hands at the end of games.”
