Padres’ Xander Bogaerts to Miss Significant Time After Suffering Fractured Left Shoulder
It’ll likely be a while until infielder Xander Bogaerts suits up for the San Diego Padres again, as the club revealed Wednesday that the four-time All-Star has suffered a fractured left shoulder.
The 31-year-old, who hasn’t played since Monday due to his shoulder injury, is expected to miss significant time but should return later this season. San Diego’s medical team hopes to gain further clarity on a potential timeline once they receive the results from his CT scan.
Bogaerts was placed on the 10-day IL prior to Wednesday’s 7-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds, retroactive to Tuesday. The Padres also selected outfielder David Peralta’s contract, adding the 36-year-old to the active roster less than a week after he signed a minor-league deal.
The former shortstop, turned second baseman, is in the second season of an 11-year, $280-million contract he signed with the organization during the 2022-23 off-season. He moved to the right side of the diamond in spring training, with Ha-Seong Kim taking over at short.
“[The news is] not as good as we would have hoped, especially after the initial imaging,” Padres manager Mike Shildt told reporters, including MLB.com’s Alyson Footer. “I’m not a timetable guy. He’ll be on the IL and will be on the sidelines for a period of time. It’s impossible to say how long; we’re still gathering information.”
Bogaerts suffered the injury in the opener of Monday’s doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves, fracturing a bone in his left shoulder after making a diving stop on a ground ball hit by 2023 National League MVP Ronald Acuña Jr.
The five-time Silver Slugger exited in the bottom half of the third inning, walking off the field with team trainers while in considerable pain before being replaced by Tyler Wade.
“I remember as soon as I caught the ball, I heard four cracks,” Bogaerts said. “I knew at that point something was wrong. I didn’t know exactly, something shifted. I just felt cracks. In the end that’s what it was, a crack.”
Wade is among the options San Diego can turn to in Bogaerts’ absence. Others on that list also include Luis Arraez, Donovan Solano and Jake Cronenworth, who’s making his first start of 2024 at second on Thursday.
With three lefties (Wade, Arraez, Cronenworth) and one righty (Solano) in the fold, the Padres can mix and match depending on several variables, including pitcher matchups, without their star second baseman. But they’re still determining who’ll receive the bulk of those reps.
“We’re still in the process of figuring that out,” Shildt said. “There are some things that we are thinking about that will come into play the next couple of days that we’ll explore. We have a lot of options between three or four different guys.”
“We’ll be somewhat creative with that, relative to what we’re seeing, and the pitching. But we’ll also create some stability that we think people will like.”
Offence has been tough to come by for Bogaerts this season, as he hit .219/.265/.316 with only four home runs and 14 RBIs while posting a career-worst 71 wRC+ over his first 47 games. He’s accounted for a measly 0.4 fWAR, the lowest of his career since 2014.
The longtime shortstop, a two-time World Series champion with the Boston Red Sox in 2013 and ‘18, has smoothly transitioned to second base, earning +4 outs above average that ranks in the 95th percentile of the majors.
Losing Bogaerts for an extended time probably won’t impact the Padres’ chances of winning the NL West, as they entered Thursday’s slate trailing the first place-Los Angeles Dodgers by seven games. But it could test their ability to stay afloat in the jam-packed wild-card race.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @Hall_Thomas_
Photo: Arturo Pardavila III. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.