New Injuries Crop Up as Austin Hedges, Luis Perdomo are Shelved
San Diego Padres catcher Austin Hedges heads to the dugout and looks at the ball he held on to after tagging out Chicago Cubs' Anthony Rizzo during a collision at home during the sixth inning of a baseball game Monday, June 19, 2017, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
The San Diego Padres got some worrying news for two of their players, as not only did Austin Hedges‘ elbow soreness flare back up, but Luis Perdomo will be going to the Minor League disabled list with shoulder inflammation.
Perdomo was a candidate to start on Sunday against the Dodgers, so now it seems like the Padres will make Sunday a bullpen day.
Perdomo’s injury hurts as the 25-year old righty was looking much better with Triple-A El Paso, tossing 41 2/3 innings in six starts, compiling a 2.81 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP while walking nine batters and striking out 17.
The sample size was small, but Perdomo showed improvement with his ground ball rate, getting Triple-A batters to ground out at a 55.8% rate in comparison to a rate of 38.8% in the Majors. His way back to the Majors is much more complicated now, as by the time he comes back from his injury, Joey Lucchesi will be back from his hip injury and be pitching in the rotation.
Austin Hedges’ injury was first noted by EVT writer Nick Lee, as he was a late scratch from the El Paso game last night and now the reason is clear.
Hedges was placed on the disabled list on May 1 with right elbow tendinitis and it apparently flared back up again. Tests revealed that there is no damage to the elbow, but it is still a worrying situation for the starting San Diego catcher. In two rehab starts, Hedges went a combined 1-8 with a home run and four strike outs.
The Padres will take a wait-and-see approach with Hedges, so fingers are crossed in the hopes that this is nothing but a blip on the radar.
Luis Perdomo is probably bound for the DL in the Minors with shoulder inflammation. It's going to be a bullpen game Sunday. Any number of candidates available to start.
— AJ Cassavell (@AJCassavell) May 26, 2018
Luis Perdomo is probably bound for the DL in the Minors with shoulder inflammation. It's going to be a bullpen game Sunday. Any number of candidates available to start.
— AJ Cassavell (@AJCassavell) May 26, 2018
With this in mind, San Diego will have to get creative with their bullpen and rotation. Bryan Mitchell could be a candidate to start as well as prove that he could stick in the rotation. Another candidate is Robbie Erlin, who started a game on May 21 against the Washington Nationals so he would be pitching on five games rest. Either one could see time on Sunday as Andy Green would prefer to keep the arms in his bullpen somewhat fresh. A bullpen arm like Kyle McGrath could come up from the minors to pitch on Sunday.
The catching duo of Raffy Lopez and A.J. Ellis will continue to play as they have before so not much should change in that department. While a call up of Austin Allen could be in the making, it is highly unlikely due to Allen not having a single at-bat above Double-A.
More updates should come on the health of Perdomo and Hedges, but for now, they will be spending some time on the shelf as they recover from the respective injuries.
I am currently attending San Diego State University while working on achieving a major in journalism. At SDSU, I write for The Daily Aztec while also hosting the sports radio show “Picked Off”, for KCR Radio. A loyal fan of San Diego sports, I hope to bring content that you will enjoy reading.