Padres Place Luis Campusano On IL
The Padres have placed rookie catcher Luis Campusano on the 10-day injured list with a left wrist sprain, reports AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. After homering in his Major League debut, Campusano was scratched from Saturday’s game—which would have been his first MLB start at catcher. San Diego has promoted RHP Taylor Williams, taking Campusano’s spot on the active roster.
As of now, there’s no word on the expected timeline for the return of the 21-year-old Campusano, who made his first Major League appearance just two days ago. A former second-round draft choice, Campusano is viewed as a consensus top-100 prospect in baseball—one who could have improved the Padres’ lackluster catching situation.
Of course, after a series of deadline deals that overhauled the catcher position in San Diego, it wasn’t clear how many opportunities Campusano would get behind the plate in the first place. With new additions Austin Nola and Jason Castro in place, the rookie would have plenty of competition for at-bats, both at catcher and at DH (with newly acquired Mitch Moreland on board as well).
Nonetheless, it’s disappointing that we’ll have to wait for a longer look at yet another promising youngster ascending the ranks of the San Diego organization. He gave fans plenty to dream on with a homer in his first Major League game, but we’ll have to table those expectations for the time being.
Meanwhile, Taylor Williams is set to make his Padres debut after spending the first half of the season with the Mariners. He was acquired by the Padres in one of this year’s low-profile trade deadline deals. He’s by no means a world-beating reliever, but he offers some upside as a depth contributor, and it was no secret the Padres sought exactly that as they hunt for the postseason. Despite a 5.93 ERA in 13 2/3 innings with Seattle, Williams has a solid 19:7 K:BB ratio, which points to a more promising 3.51 FIP.
Padres Acquire Taylor Williams
4:55pm: The Mariners will receive righty Matt Brash in return, per Dennis Lin of The Athletic. The 22-year-old Brash went in the fourth round of the 2019 draft and then threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings between rookie ball and Single-A last season.
3:34pm: The Padres have made yet another trade, this time acquiring right-hander Taylor Williams from the Mariners for a player to be named later, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com tweets.
This is the second trade in as many days between the Padres and Mariners, who previously swung a seven-player deal Sunday that saw Austin Nola, Austin Adams and Dan Altavilla go from Seattle to San Diego. As was the case in landing Adams and Altavilla, the idea behind acquiring Williams is to improve a Padres bullpen that has struggled with injuries and underperformance in 2020. It’s anyone’s guess whether the 29-year-old Williams will end up as part of the solution, though, considering he has only put up a 5.34 ERA across 86 major league innings with the Brewers and Mariners. Williams has however, averaged 95 mph on his fastball and posted a 3.80 FIP during his time in the bigs. He also won’t be eligible for arbitration until after 2021, so Williams could be a valuable piece for the Padres over multiple seasons if he turns around his career.
Regardless of whether Williams rights the ship as a Padre, his pickup is yet another sign that they’re going for it in 2020. At 21-15 and trying to break a long playoff drought, the A.J. Preller-led Padres have made a series of notable trades since the weekend.
Mariners Option 4 Players To Triple-A
The Mariners have reduced their spring training roster to 45 players. The team announced Friday that it optioned two infielders (Patrick Wisdom and Donovan Walton) and a pair of right-handers (Zac Grotz and Taylor Williams) to Triple-A Tacoma.
Every member of the quartet has garnered some major league experience, but Wisdom may be the most notable name in the group. He’s a former high selection of the Cardinals, who took him 52nd overall in the 2012 draft. But Wisdom, now 28 years old, has only totaled 86 major league plate appearances to this point. He spent almost all of last season as a member of the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate, with which he batted .240/.332/.513 (97 wRC+) and hit 31 home runs in 453 plate appearances. Wisdom then joined the Mariners on a minor league contract back in November.
Walton, 25, ranks as the Mariners’ No. 24 prospect at MLB.com. He did appear in seven games with Seattle last season, but he hasn’t even played at the Triple-A level yet. Walton was quite effective in Double-A ball last season, though, as he slashed .300/.390/.427 (134 wRC+) with 11 homers, 10 steals and almost as many walks (63) as strikeouts (72).
As for the optioned pitchers, the 28-year-old Williams became a Mariner in February by way of a waiver claim from the Brewers. He racked up 53 innings out of the Brewers’ bullpen in 2018, parlaying a 95 mph fastball into a respectable 4.25 ERA/3.95 FIP with 9.68 K/9 and 4.25 BB/9. But Williams spent the majority of last season at the highest level of the minors, thanks in no small part to the near-10.00 ERA he posted over 14 2/3 innings in Milwaukee.
Grotz, a former Astros, Dodgers and Mets farmhand, is in his second year in the Seattle organization. He amassed a combined 77 2/3 innings among the Double-A, Triple-A and major league levels last season. In his first 17 1/3 frames in the bigs, Grotz notched 18 strikeouts and allowed eight earned runs on 14 hits and eight walks.
Mariners Claim Taylor Williams, Designate Phillips Valdez
The Mariners have claimed reliever Taylor Williams off waivers from the Brewers, per a club announcement. The Seattle org designated fellow 28-year-old righty Phillips Valdez to create roster space.
Williams, who recently lost his spot in the Milwaukee bullpen mix, seemed like a possible waiver target. While the hard-throwing righty hasn’t yet entrenched himself in a MLB relief unit, he turned in 54 innings of 2.83 ERA ball at the Triple-A level last year. He racked up 9.5 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 while carrying a strong 54.0% groundball rate.
As for Valdez, he was claimed earlier in the winter but didn’t last long in camp before losing his roster spot. If he clears waivers, he’ll presumably remain on hand as a non-roster player. Valdez debuted in the majors last year, recording 16 innings of 3.94 ERA ball, but spent most of the year as a swingman at Triple-A. He worked to a 4.92 ERA with 7.4 K/9, 4.1 BB/9, and a 51.6% groundball rate in 78 2/3 innings of action in the PCL.