Padres catcher Luis Campusano underwent surgery on his ailing left thumb, manager Bob Melvin told the team’s beat (relayed by Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune). He’s expected to be sidelined around two months.
Campusano has already been on the 10-day injured list for nearly a month. He landed on the shelf on April 17 with a sprain that apparently hasn’t healed as the club had initially hoped. IL stints can be backdated to the start of a player’s absence, so it now seems a formality Campusano will be transferred to the 60-day IL once the Friars find a need for a 40-man roster spot.
The 24-year-old was somewhat recently one of the sport’s top prospects. He’s performed well in the minor leagues but has yet to get an extended opportunity at the highest level. Campusano has seen some action for the Padres in each of the last four years but picked up a total of 114 plate appearances over 35 games. He carries just a .198/.237/.302 line with three homers in that scattershot playing time.
This year’s injury came at a particularly inopportune time. Starting catcher Austin Nola had been off to a rough start and San Diego had expressed an intent to give the young backstop more playing time. Before that could really come to fruition, he hurt his thumb while catching a bullpen session. Nola has continued to struggle and is now sitting on a .152/.256/.215 slash in 27 games. San Diego has turned to rookie Brett Sullivan as Nola’s backup, but he’s hitting only .208/.240/.417 through his first 25 big league plate appearances.
The door seemed open for Campusano, who owns a .296/.364/.511 mark over two seasons in Triple-A. Instead, he’ll now be out of action until around the All-Star Break in the best case scenario. He won’t have much time to seize the starting job before the August 1 trade deadline. If Nola and Sullivan are still struggling offensively, catcher looks like an obvious area of concern for president of baseball operations A.J. Preller and his front office.
Upgrading behind the plate midseason can be challenging — clubs tend to be hesitant about tasking deadline pickups with too much work in acclimating to a new pitching staff — but San Diego may have to look into options at the trade deadline. Yasmani Grandal (White Sox), Yan Gomes (Cubs) and Eric Haase (Tigers) are among the veteran backstops who are performing well on clubs that could fall out of contention by July.
Ugh. Guess Nola and Sullivan it is for now..Sucks for Campy. This was supposed to be the year he finally got his shot
I would like to point out that he has a .238 batting average and a .237 OBP. One of the rarer moments where the OBP is lower than the batting average.
Maybe if the Padres would ever actually give him a real shot, he would start hitting. He’s been MLB ready for at least a year or two now. They clearly don’t trust him to produce, whether offensively or defensively, or both.
True. He never got the shot. Nola is best as a backup not a starter. I don’t know if going outside the organization is worth it if you’re not going to get a solid upgrade. The names mentioned in this article aren’t exactly making me feel hopeful…
Eric Haase will be a good pick up for somebody.
How much for the Contreras in the window, Donnie?
Just take the contract.
Please, oh please take Grandal! He won’t help out defensively because he’s probably the worst catcher in bb, but he can hit a little.
Haase’s defense will not take the Padres where Peter Seidler wants them to go.
Luis Garcia, straight up.
Wait, did you just grab a line from “How Much Is That Doggie In The Window”?
Priceless…
I’m just glad somebody old enough to get it got it, Curls. =)
He would be getting his shot now if not injured
Padres are having almost as much catcher issues as the Angels.
But Thaiss and Walach have been surprisingly decent while O’Hoppe is out.
Thaiss is a terrible catcher but he has hit well. Anyone know when Wallach will be back?
How did it take a month to realize he’d need surgery? Padres continue to be unable to get players back..Suarez, Pomeranz, just the most recent examples
Overrated Padres trash. They went to pretend he would be a budding superstar because they can’t develop. Now that Preller has traded the entire farm and bloated the payroll, they are stuck.don’t lie to yourselves, padres “fans.” You knew you were doomed from the start
Thumb sucker
I have it on good authority that he had his I- Phone in the bull pen and strained that thumb scrolling endlessly through one of KD17’s Red Sox comments.
Where did they go to pretend…Never Never Land?
Only if Peter and Wendy are there.
Seems a bit harsh
For all of Preller’s craziness he has allowed the Padres to have mediocre catching for years. This season he may finally have enough
How dare you call Austin Hedges mediocre!? He was much worse…
Hurry up and get older, Salas!
I’d give up Barnhart if you’re willing to take him off the Cubs hands. Not great numbers, but Yan has been taking up the majority of play time, understandably so, plus he’d be an upgrade over Nola.
Why didn’t they do this when he first got injured?
1. Wait-and-see approach to a sprain
2. Wasn’t healing as the team hoped
3. Consulted Dr. Nick for 2nd opinion
4. Consulted Dr. Kevorkian for 2nd opinion
– Pick 3 of 4 –
Bye Campy. Nice knowin’ ya!
Campusano was described as having some psychological issues in relation to communication.
He is at a prime age that issues take hold of the male brain.
Dump and run. He is not a prospect.
tf does any of this mean? Never seen so many bizarre comments in a thread before
Us Pads fans have come to ignore Crikes, his takes are pure cringe.
Tough break for Campy. Though he probably wasn’t ever gonna be compared to the original catcher named Campy, he looked like a solid prospect.
Barnhart would be a cheap acquisition. Always thought of as a superior defensive catcher, a platoon of him and Nola could work. The offense won’t be original Campy like, that’s for sure. But if they can combine for 10-12 HR and 50-60 RBIs while playing solid defense and calling a good game, I’ll take it.
Ok
Sprained my thumb 8 months ago and I still have pain and any trauma to it is very painful. It also, pops or cracks very easy. Without surgery, he probably couldn’t be at full health again this season, or maybe ever.
Preller has tried replacing Hedges like 17 times. Just imagine how many young players they’d still have if Preller just kept Hedges. And in the end he’s got the same offensive production anyway.
The definition of spinning your wheels.
What happened to this guy? I thought there was all this hype over his skill being the next MLB star. Mega Bust! Next!
Andrew knizner might be in play in a month or so although he can’t hit either
I thought Alfaro was a good back up. Good chemistry with the other players too.