Padres right-hander Matt Waldron has been shut down for the time being and is considered week to week, manager Craig Stammen told the team’s beat (via Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune). The right-hander recently underwent a procedure for a hemorrhoid.
Waldron, 29, made only one big league appearance last season, pitching 4 2/3 innings and being tagged for four runs. He tallied 26 starts for the Friars the year prior, turning in a 4.91 ERA with a 21.3% strikeout rate against a 6.4% walk rate. He posted a solid 3.79 ERA through his first 23 starts of the season in 2024 before being clobbered for 26 runs in only 18 1/3 frames over his final few appearances, ballooning his ERA by more than a full run in the process.
One of the only active knuckleballers in the majors or minors, Waldron struggled through 21 Triple-A starts last year, serving up a 6.48 earned run average. He maintained respectable strikeout and walk rates, however (20.7% and 7.1%, respectively). A .368 average on balls in play and well below-average 59% strand rate both dogged him.
Waldron is out of minor league options and thus cannot be sent to Triple-A without first clearing waivers. He can, however, open the season on the 15-day injured list and embark on a 30-day minor league rehab assignment once cleared to pitch, if the recovery from his recent procedure necessitates such an absence.
Following a late flurry of low-cost additions, the Padres’ 2026 rotation includes a returning Joe Musgrove (from 2024 Tommy John surgery), the re-signed Michael King, veteran Nick Pivetta, out-of-options righty Randy Vásquez and free agent newcomer Germán Márquez. San Diego also added Griffin Canning on a one-year deal, though he’s still on the mend from last year’s torn Achilles tendon. Lefties JP Sears and Kyle Hart are on the 40-man roster but could be depth options in Triple-A El Paso to begin the year, given Vásquez’s lack of options. Veterans Walker Buehler, Marco Gonzales and Triston McKenzie all inked a minor league deals with invitations to spring and could factor into the mix as well.
Shut down and have a seat… ok, maybe just lay on your belly for awhile.
Poor guy. Let the jokes begin
This ought to be fun
It’s early S.T. Plenty of time left to PrepHare for the season.
I think I would have told the Padres PR dept to keep that on the dl.
I once made my girlfriend buy me some prep h because I couldn’t do it myself.
It’s the IL now…
I knew he was on some kind of roids.
Only when he’s sitting down.
It must have been that burning sensation in his ….
Those dugout benches do not look conducive to rectal health.
Yeah, I would have gone with “undisclosed illness” on this one! The Padres really hit him where he hurts!
Doing him dirty! I mean… no favors!
George Brett famously suffered the same public “hemorrhoids” disclosure many many years ago.
Hopefully he can joke about it later, like Brett does now.
Been there bro. One week and you’ll be back in fighting shape.
In 2023 MLB The Show he was super good. I would pitch games with him online and continue to pitch with every game. Even if he had no energy, he still was good, the worse the opponent was, the better it worked.
The problem is that in dynasty mode you have to change his suppositories.
Knuckleballers really do have more interesting stories, setbacks, and triumphs than most pitchers, don’t they?
This from now on casts suspicion on hockey-announced “lower body” injuries.
Can Matt Waldron’s physician prescribe Preparation H for use while at his workplace? Back-pocket size, if you please.
Cut your nails bro !!!!!
Waldron has always been bad in AAA; his *career* BABIP in El Paso is .359. It’s for the best that he can’t go back without be waived. He should either be in the majors or AA like Kenny Serwa (yet another knuckleballer).
Was it necessary for them to include that bit of info?