Adam Engel suffered a hamstring damage throughout Thursday’s Cactus League recreation, placing his availability for the Padres’ Opening Day roster in extreme jeopardy. “Hamstrings generally is a little bit [tricky] so we’ll see how he progresses, however…I feel it’d be robust for him to make one other recreation right here in Spring Coaching,” Padres supervisor Bob Melvin advised reporters, together with Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Engel’s progress was already slowed by a calf pressure earlier in camp, and the outfielder has performed in solely six Spring Coaching video games. Between this lack of ramp-up interval and the time it’ll take for Engel to get well from his present hamstring subject, a stint on the 10-day injured record definitely appears to be like possible for Engel at the start of the season.
The Padres signed Engel to a one-year deal this winter with a watch in direction of utilizing the veteran as a fourth outfielder, given Engel’s robust monitor document as a defender. With Fernando Tatis Jr. nonetheless having to serve 20 video games left on his PED suspension, Engel was tapped for a superb quantity of enjoying time in April, however it’s now doable Tatis may get again onto the sphere earlier than Engel does, relying on the severity of the hamstring subject.
In higher information for San Diego’s outfield, Juan Soto may be capable of keep away from the IL within the wake of the delicate indirect pressure that sidelined him final weekend. The Padres have naturally been very cautious with Soto, however he was making some mild throws within the outfield and taking dry swings yesterday, in a optimistic step this early in his restoration course of from any type of indirect downside.
With some cautious optimism about Soto and now some doubt over Engel, it nonetheless appears as if the Padres can have a minimum of one outfield job obtainable on the Opening Day roster. Oscar Azocar and Brandon Dixon are the interior decisions, and maybe multiple of David Dahl, Tim Lopes, and Rougned Odor might have their minor league contracts chosen to the roster. To assist his possibilities of making the staff, Odor lately noticed some motion in left subject, regardless of by no means enjoying within the outfield earlier than throughout his professional profession.
Like Soto, Austin Nola may also be within the Opening Day lineup regardless of an ominous late-spring setback, as Nola was hit within the face by a Michael Fulmer pitch on Sunday and suffered a fractured nostril and three stitches. Whereas that prognosis isn’t precisely good, Nola was “so glad it’s what it’s and never the eyes, a concussion or any of that stuff,” he advised MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell. The catcher may now even get again into recreation motion earlier than Spring Coaching is over, as Nola caught Seth Lugo’s bullpen session yesterday.
Xander Bogaerts obtained a cortisone shot in his left wrist, and isn’t anticipated to play once more till Sunday. As Melvin advised Sanders and firm, “there’s no concern, [Bogaerts] has one in every of these a spring,” on account of periodic soreness in his wrist. The prized signing of San Diego’s offseason, Bogaerts is in no hazard of lacking his first Opening Day in a Padres uniform.
One participant assured to overlook a while is Joe Musgrove, who suffered an unlucky fluke damage in late February when a weight-room accident resulted in a damaged left huge toe. The Padres ace’s restoration timeline has grow to be extra clear as he has been rehabbing the damage, and Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes (by way of Twitter) that Musgrove will hit one other essential checkpoint when he pitches in a minor league spring recreation on Monday.
The fitting-hander will miss comparatively little time, as Acee notes that Musgrove is being tentatively scheduled to make his season debut on both April 11 or April 16. Nevertheless, the Padres nonetheless face a rotation crunch with Musgrove sidelined and Yu Darvish nonetheless correctly ramping up after his traditional spring routine was interrupted by the World Baseball Traditional. Consequently, San Diego may deploy a six-man rotation to assist handle arms throughout an unusually busy early schedule — the Padres play video games on 24 of the primary 25 days of the brand new season. Blake Snell, Nick Martinez, Michael Wacha, Jay Groome, Lugo, and Darvish would comprise the rotation till Musgrove’s return might shuffle issues up.
