Luis Arraez heads to IL, leaving Padres' offensive core halved

Kevin Acee, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Apr 21, 2025

Published in Baseball

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DETROIT — The news was good for Luis Arraez and the San Diego Padres, considering the anxious moments they endured after Arraez collided full-speed into Houston Astros second baseman Mauricio Dubón while running out a sacrifice bunt in the first inning of Sunday night’s game.

“It’s overall very favorable relative to how scary that looked,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said Monday.

The news, however, was not good enough to allow Arraez to return to the field right away.

The Padres first baseman was placed on the seven-day concussion injured list Monday. Arraez was said to have slept well and woken up feeling good. He had a stiff neck and a cut on his jaw, according to Shildt.

“Nothing cognitively is anything that we’re overly concerned about,” Shildt said. “He is going to go in concussion protocol. More testing will be done. Hopefully, it’s more out of caution than necessity.”

Arraez did exhibit signs of a concussion while on the field, including briefly not being aware of his surroundings. That essentially forced the Padres’ hand.

Any decision involving a concussion is made in conjunction with Major League Baseball’s medical director. And before he returns, Arraez will have to be cleared by the MLB medical director and a doctor representing the MLB Players Association.

Arraez returned to San Diego Monday, leaving just half of the Padres’ six core offensive players with the team and available at this point.

They went into Monday’s game against the Tigers with just Xander Bogaerts, Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. from that core group.

The Padres have been without center fielder Jackson Merrill, who led them in most offensive categories through 10 games, since April 7. That is when a right hamstring strain became burdensome enough for him to be shut down.

Second baseman Jake Cronenworth, who was reaching base at a .409 clip with two homers and two doubles in 12 games, followed Merrill to the sideline on April 8, two days after suffering a fractured rib when he was hit by a pitch.

Now Arraez, who was batting .287 and has had four games with at least three hits, will miss at least six games.

“It’s a really big deal,” Tatis said Monday afternoon. “We cannot just put it in our bag just like that. But at the same time, we’ve got to … keep finding a way. And I know for sure they’re gonna be back soon, and we can all go full force.”

It has been more than two weeks since that happened, and it will be at least another week until it happens again.

The best-case scenario for the Padres is that Arraez is cleared to return April 29 against the Giants and Merrill joins him in that day’s lineup. May 1 against the Pirates in Pittsburgh might be more realistic for Merrill, but a return for the two-game series at Petco Park against the Giants has not been ruled out.

The Padres are also down Jason Heyward (left knee) and Brandon Lockridge (left hamstring). The two players were platooning in left field and helped fill in for Merrill as well.

“It’s all about finding solutions,” Shildt said. “That’s what winners do. So we’ll continue to put the best club out there. I love the club we’ve got, and we’ll go compete.”

The attempts at those solutions:

Gavin Sheets, who joined the team as a minor-league free agent shortly before spring training and has begun the season batting .333 with an .890 OPS in 63 plate appearances, took Arraez’s place at first base and batting second on Monday.

Tirso Ornelas, called up Saturday to take Heyward’s place on the active roster, was in left field and batted fifth in his first major league start.

Tyler Wade, a utility player who is primarily an infielder, started in center field for the fifth time in the past six games.

Jose Iglesias made his 10th start in the past 11 games at second base.

It is not clear how the Padres will use infielder Mason McCoy, who was called up. He was already on the 40-man roster, which means his ascension did not require a corresponding move, and the Padres need an infielder with Arraez down and Wade needed in the outfield.

The Padres were 8-2 with Merrill, who had three home runs and 10 RBIs, including two that tied games and two that gave the Padres a lead.

They are 8-4 without him. They are 7-3 without Cronenworth. Now they will move forward without another key contributor.

“No one is going to feel sorry for us,” Shildt said Sunday night in Houston. “And we’re not going to feel sorry for ourselves. We’re going to love on the guys that aren’t here and aren’t on the field with us and support them like crazy. But we also know we have a job to get done, and somebody’s going to get it done.”

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