The Padres announced this afternoon that they’ve placed Jason Heyward on the 10-day injured list due to inflammation in his left knee. They’ve recalled outfielder Tirso Ornelas to the major league roster to replace Heyward. Ornelas’s first game will be his MLB debut, and his expected call-up was first reported by Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune earlier this afternoon.
Ornelas, 25, was signed by the Padres out of Tijuana, Mexico and made his pro debut in 2017. He’s slowly but surely climbed up the minor league ladder since then. After a brief call-up to Triple-A in 2022, he arrived at the level permanently in 2023 and has been playing there ever since with a strong career .291/.367/.462 slash line across 203 games for the club’s El Paso affiliate. Defensively, Ornelas has logged time in all three outfield spots and made occasional cameos at first base throughout his career, though he’s mostly been confined to the outfield corners.
The youngster’s big league debut comes during a rash of injuries for the Padres, who had already lost Jackson Merrill, Jake Cronenworth, and Brandon Lockridge to the injured list before Heyward joined them today. It’s been a major test of the club’s depth, particularly in center field where they’ve resorted to using Tyler Wade and Connor Joe at the position due to a lack of viable alternatives. Ornelas will be tasked with replacing Heyward in the lineup once he joins the club. The 35-year-old veteran has gotten off to a slow start this year, hitting just .190/.255/.286 in 17 games with the club even while being heavily platoon protected by San Diego.
Acee goes on to suggest that an expanded role for Oscar Gonzalez also can’t necessarily be ruled out, suggesting that a “silver lining” in Heyward’s absence has been an opportunity to get a better look at the 27-year-old. He’s done fairly well for himself in the early going this year, posting six hits in 18 plate appearances with strong batted ball data despite no extra-base hits in that microscopic sample size. Gonzalez actually hits better against right-handed hitters than lefties historically, so it’s at least plausible that Gonzalez could slip into something of a regular role with the club in left field while Ornelas is up if the youngster is tabbed to handle center field instead of left.
Of course, much of that will depend on how the club plans to use Ornelas now that he’s set to join the roster. It’s unclear if Ornelas will be in the mix for time in center field for the club; while he’s logged just 50 games at the position in the minors over the years, neither Wade nor Joe is particularly experienced at the position either. It’s also unclear if Ornelas will be in as strict of a platoon as Heyward has been while he’s with the club, though even if Gonzalez takes up an everyday job for the time being the presence of Joe (who has a career 105 wRC+ against left-handed hitters) makes a platoon a viable option for the Padres.
