Luis

Campusano

As one Padres’ catcher gets healthy, they lose Freddy Fermin (head) to the injured list on Friday. Campusano had been shelved since early May due to a fractured left big toe. Prior to landing on the injured list, the 27-year-old backstop was hitting .288/.362/.596 with three homers and 10 RBI.

Campusano suffered a fractured big toe while fouling a pitch off himself on May 5. He’ll replace Rodolfo Durán as Freddy Fermin’s backup once healthy.

The Padres had been taking it day-to-day with Campusano, but they finally decided it was best to sit him down for a week and let the injury heal rather than to continue to wait for him and play shorthanded. Rodolfo Duran was promoted from Triple-A El Paso to take his spot on the active roster.

Padres manager Craig Stammen told reporters Campusano is banged up after fouling a ball off his foot during Tuesday’s game against the Giants. He’s questionable for Thursday’s series opener against the Cardinals.

Campusano took Jaden Hill for a ride with a solo shot in the seventh inning. That’s the second homemr of the campaign for the backstop, and he is already up to six doubles to go with the roundtrippers. IT’s very early, but Campusano has played well in his limited time with a slash of .333/.385/.667 in his 36 at-bats.

Fermin was replaced by Luis Campusano behind the plate after taking a foul tip off his catcher’s mask. The 30-year-old will undergo evaluation for a possible concussion. There should be an update on his status following the game.

The Padres went out and got Nick Castellanos, Miguel Andujar and Ty France in part because they didn’t want to look at Campusano as more than their backup catcher. Campusano, though, still might well wind up as their best option as a DH against lefties. He’s 6-for-17 with a homer and four doubles in the early going. He’s second on the team in extra-base hits and 11th in at-bats, with one-third as many as the top three.

Campusano hasn’t played since Monday, but he’ll be in the lineup with Freddy Fermin getting the day off. Ferming has gone just 1-for-14 with four strikeouts to start the season, which may be opening the door for Campusano to get more at-bats.

He’ll get $900,000, according to The Athletic’s Dennis Lin. It sure seems to us like Campusano is a player who would have benefitted from accepting the non-tender and taking his chances elsewhere. After all, the Padres gave him all of 21 major league plate appearances last season and wouldn’t put him behind the plate even once. Campusano’s glove is a major issue, but he did hit .336/.441/.595 in 105 games for Triple-A El Paso last season. At least he’s out of options now, so if the Padres decide against carrying him, he’ll go on waivers and find out if someone else wants him.

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.