Ramón Laureano To Miss First Playoff Round Due To Finger Fracture

Padres outfielder Ramón Laureano has a fracture in the index finger of his right hand and will miss at least the first round of the playoffs. Manager Mike Shildt informed reporters, including Julian Del Gaudio of Fox 5 San Diego, after today’s game.

Laureano appeared to injure his hand when fouling off a ball in today’s game. As seen in this video from MLB.com, he was shaking his hand in discomfort after the pitch. He was removed from the game in the second inning.

Shildt sounded fairly pessimistic when asked if Laureano would be able to return after the first playoff round, as heard in this audio clip from 97.3 The Fan. “Sometimes, we come in and talk about, you know, slight fracture, hairline fracture,” Shildt said. “It’s a fracture. So I want to temper expectations but I also want to keep everything on the table. But I wouldn’t expect to see him early in the playoffs but I would hold out hope for later.”

Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn were acquired from the Orioles at the trade deadline. The Friars sent six prospects to Baltimore in one of several aggressive moves they made to bolster the club for the stretch run.

Since then, Laureano has become an everyday part of the club’s outfield and performed quite well. He has nine home runs in 49 games, helping him produce a .271/.325/.492 line and 128 wRC+. He has also stolen three bases and bounced around between all three outfield spots.

Losing that kind of player with just a few games left in the season is obviously less than ideal timing. Based on Shildt’s comments, the club will probably have to operate under the assumption that Laureano is done for the year. If they can engineer a deep postseason run and get him back in the second half of October, they can cross that bridge when they come to it.

That will leave the Padres with an outfield mix consisting of Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill and Gavin Sheets. Tatis has been ill this week but Shildt said in the comments linked above that he has been feeling better. O’Hearn has mostly been playing first base but can play a bit of outfield as well. Bryce Johnson is on hand as a bench guy. Tirso Ornelas is on the 40-man roster and could perhaps be recalled. Tyler Wade is in the system in a non-roster capacity and could be selected to the 40-man.

The Padres hold a $6.5MM option to bring back Laureano for 2026, with no buyout. This injury is minor enough that it shouldn’t impact that decision, so that option is likely to be picked up. The Friars have been working around notable financial constraints in recent years but could likely find a trade partner if they don’t have the budget space to cover that amount of money themselves.

Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images