Padres place catcher Luis Campusano on injured list

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 MLB 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 Campusano, who made his 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 about 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.