San Diego Padres manager Bob Melvin spoke with reporters on Tuesday—including Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune—regarding the status of superstar outfielder Juan Soto, who was pulled from a minor league spring training game on Sunday thanks to a mild left oblique strain. Melvin noted that Soto is set to undergo an MRI, but reaffirmed the club’s belief that the injury is a mild one, and noted that a return to action in time for Opening Day next week is not out of the question.
That’s about as good of news as Padres fans can get ahead of an MRI, as any absence from Soto would be a serious blow for a Padres club that will already play the first twenty games of its season without fellow phenom Fernando Tatis Jr. while he completes his suspension for PED usage. That being said, even if Soto were to begin the season on the injured list, the club would still be set to run out a star-studded roster on Opening Day that includes the likes of Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, Yu Darvish, and Josh Hader.
In the event that Soto does miss time, the likes of Jose Azocar and Adam Engel could benefit in terms of playing time as long as he is out. If Soto were to miss enough time that Tatis returns before him, it seems reasonable to expect that Matt Carpenter, currently slated to play right field while Tatis is suspended, would slide over to left to cover for the remainder of Soto’s absence.
More from Padres camp…
- Acee also notes that catcher Austin Nola, who suffered a fractured nose after getting hit in the face with a pitch on Sunday, is expected to return to the field tomorrow for “light work,” with an Opening Day start behind the plate still on the table. Nola, a solid bat-first catcher coming off his first below-average offensive season (89 wRC+ in 110 games) in 2022, figures to be the club’s starter this year. San Diego is fortunate to have a quality backup in the form of Luis Campusano should Nola miss any time. If Nola requires a brief stint on the injured list, Brett Sullivan stands to back up as the only other catcher on the 40-man roster unless the Padres decide to make a 40-man roster move to accommodate a non-roster invitee such as Pedro Severino.
- In less fortunate injury news, Dennis Lin of The Athletic notes that lefty reliever Drew Pomeranz is set to miss Opening Day after feeling some inflammation in his elbow. Pomeranz has been excellent for the Padres when healthy, posting a stellar 1.62 ERA over the past two seasons, but this latest setback adds to the 34 year old’s lengthy injury history that led him to pitch just 44 1/3 innings in that same timeframe. Fortunately for San Diego, Josh Hader and Robert Suarez are certainly a capable tandem for late-inning duties to open the season.
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