Padres pregame: Austin Nola to have thumb surgery, miss rest of season

Austin Nola is finishing this season where he started it: on the injured list.

The Padres said Friday afternoon the 31-year-old catcher has a left thumb strain that will require surgery, his third trip to the IL in what has been an increasingly frustrating start to his tenure in San Diego.

Nola played through a broken bone in his foot after the Padres acquired him last August.

“I feel bad for him,” Padres manager Jayce Tingler said. “Just because all of the things he’s had to deal with. He never thinks about himself, even discussing going to the IL. His actions are never about himself. He’s so disappointed that he can’t be there for the team and I think that speaks to his character and makeup. Those are the type of guys that as a manager and a coach you just love to have.”

Nola fractured his left middle finger in spring training and did not make his 2021 debut until April 28. He later sprained his left knee and missed nearly two more months before his latest injury.

“Just injuries that were catching related, freak injuries,” Nola said. “… At the end of the day I couldn’t control injuries. I could only look forward and look to the next step and be ready to play whenever I could. When I came back I was ready to play and then I got hurt. Was ready to play when I came back. At the end of the day, I did what I could to control those things and try to help the team anyway, to be a consistent player when I’m on the field.

“It’s all I can do.”

His second season in a Padres uniform comes to an end with a .272/.340/.376 batting line over just 56 games played. He hit his second homer of the season on Tuesday before the Giants’ Brandon Belt slid into his glove hand on a play at the plate in the ninth inning, resulting in the latest setback in Nola’s attempt to establish himself as the Padres’ starting catcher.

Webster Rivas was added to the taxi squad the next day as Nola worked to get the thumb into good enough shape to finish the season. The hope was he would have surgery immediately after the Padres’ last game Oct. 3, but the setbacks continued to stack up before the decision was made to end his season and line up a surgery soon.

Tingler did not have details on the extent of the damage sustained to the ligament in Nol’as thumb, but said his catcher is expected to be ready for spring training.

“He has the last two or three days been doing everything in his power to get back,” Tingler said. “Tried some different tape jobs, obviously a ton of treatment.”

Tingler added: “We don’t think it’s a good idea for him to try to go out and he’s one catch away from catching a sinker or taking a swing and doing more damage.”

With Nola officially on the injured list, Rivas was added to the active roster and is expected to start Friday’s second game against Atlanta. How the workload is split up between Rivas and Victor Caratini is to be determined.

The third catcher on the 40-man roster, prospect Luis Campusano, has been out of Triple-A El Paso’s lineup since Aug. 30 with an oblique injury.

About Friday’s doubleheader

First of all, it’s not a doubleheader.

Not officially.

The first game, beginning at 5:10 p.m., is the resumption of a game washed away in Atlanta with the Padres clinging to a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning in what was the nightcap of doubleheader.

It will be resumed in that same spot with right-hander Pierce Johnson replacing left-hander Tim Hill on the mound and the Braves batting as the home team.

It is also still a seven-inning game.

As for Friday’s 7:10 nightcap, scheduled for nine innings, right-hander Reiss Knehr will be added to the roster as the 29^th man and make the start. His ERA of 3.93 will jump to 4.95 once the first game ends, as the rookie was the starter in that suspended game and his stats — three runs on two walks and a hit in 1 2/3 innings — will finally become official.

Knehr had a 2.66 ERA, 20 strikeouts and a 1.15 WHIP in 20 1/3 innings at Triple-A El Paso, but is on three days’ rest after throwing three shutout innings on Sept. 20.

The Braves have not announced who will pitch in Friday’s first game but left-hander Max Fried (12-7, 3.31 ERA) will start against Knehr.

Fried, the Padres’ first-round pick in 2011, has thrown 10 straight quality starts (1.80 ERA).

Notable

• RHP Chris Paddack played catch again from 90 feet but has thrown only fastballs since landing on the injured list with inflammation in an elbow that has already undergone one Tommy John procedure. “Am I worried that it’s blown? No,” Paddack said Friday. “It’s not painful so that’s progress. It’s just discomfort.” Paddack will not progress further in his throwing program until that discomfort is out. Even then, with their playoff hopes all but snuffed out, there is a good chance the Padres will shut down Paddack the rest of this season to make sure his elbow is sound heading into 2022.

Videographer Annie Heilbrunn contributed to this report.