Elias

Diaz

No real surprises here for the Padres as all three will head to free agency. Hart compiled a lackluster 5.86 ERA across 43 innings in his San Diego debut. Wade and Díaz are merely bench players at this stage of their respective careers.

Even with Freddy Fermin entrenched as the starter, the Padres will roster both Luis Campusano and Martín Maldonado as backups for this series. It remains to be seen who will catch Game 2.

Díaz missed Sunday’s game with an oblique issue. While he’s lost playing time, Díaz has continued to serve as Nick Pivetta’s personal catcher since the acquisition of Freddy Fermin, and the Padres would surely prefer not to mess with the pairing at this point. Still, they’re making preparations to be without him, as both Martín Maldonado and Luis Campusano are expected to be in Chicago and available to be activated.

San Diego could turn to Luis Campusano on their postseason roster if Díaz isn’t ready to go in a couple days. It’ll presumably be Freddy Fermin handling the catching duties in his absence. The 34-year-old veteran suffered an oblique injury during Saturday’s win over Arizona.

Díaz belted the third of three Padres’ home runs off of Diamondbacks’ left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, with his 390-foot blast increasing the Padres’ lead to 5-0 in the second inning. It has been a rough season overall for the 34-year-old backstop as he’s hitting just .204/.270/.337 with nine long balls and 29 RBI in 283 plate appearances.

This one turned into a laugher., but Díaz’s homer in the fifth accounted for the Padres’ first and only run off Taj Bradley. He then hit his second as part of a seven-run seventh inning. It’s Díaz’s second career two-homer game, with the other coming three years ago against the Diamondbacks. The start tonight was his first in six days, as he’s taken a backseat to Freddy Fermin since the trade deadline.

The 34-year-old backstop gave the Padres a 2-1 advantage with his 413-foot (105.3 mph EV) two-run shot off of right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the third inning. That would end up being the extent of their offense in the ballgame. Díaz finished the day 1-for-3 and is now hitting .198/.269/.308 with six long balls and 24 RBI on the season.

Campusano is now up to 11 home runs and 38 RBI on the season while hitting .316 with a 1.035 OPS at Triple-A. Meanwhile, Elias Diaz is slashing .206/.278/.313 in 177 MLB plate appearances with a 26 percent strikeout rate and a -2 framing grade behind the plate.

Díaz made a second straight start today for the first time since Apr. 5-7. While probably not truly a quality starting catcher, Diaz has to be a better option than Martín Maldonado, who continues to handle Dylan Cease and Randy Vásquez when they pitch. Díaz is catching Michael King and Nick Pivetta, both of whom are off to outstanding starts. Díaz also has a .652 to .506 OPS advantage on Maldonado.

The homer came in the second inning, but making the difference tonight has to help Díaz’s case for regaining some playing time. He started over Martín Maldonado in seven of San Diego’s first 11 games, but Maldonado has gotten the call in eight of the last 13. That’s been the case even though the Padres are 12-0 in Diaz’s starts, compared to 5-7 in Maldonado’s. Diaz has mostly caught Michael King and Nick Pivetta, while Maldonado has had Dylan Cease and Randy Vásquez.