Padres hope 1B Eric Hosmer can return from fractured finger before playoffs

Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer suffered a fractured left index finger on a bunt attempt against the Rockies on Monday, disrupting what has been his best season in San Diego. Fortunately for him and the Padres, though, there’s hope Hosmer will be able to return by the last week of the regular season, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

When the Padres signed Hosmer to an eight-year, $144M contract entering 2018, their hope was that the former Royal would be a consistently valuable contributor on a perennial playoff team. Both Hosmer and the Padres fell flat in the first two years of the contract, but their fortunes have turned around this season. With the 30-year-old Hosmer riding a newfound fly ball-oriented approach to a line of .288/.344/.542 (good for a career-high 137 wRC+) with eight home runs in 128 plate appearances, the Padres are 26-17 and in possession of the National League’s No. 1 wild-card spot.

While losing this version of Hosmer is less than ideal for the Padres, they did make contingency plans at first base before the Aug. 31 trade deadline, acquiring Mitch Moreland from the Red Sox. Moreland looks as if he’ll see the bulk of the work at the position until Hosmer’s back. Although Moreland has also seen time as a DH since joining the Padres, it appears they’ll have to shuffle multiple players into that spot for at least the next couple weeks.