Padres place reliever Drew Pomeranz on 10-day IL with shoulder injury

The Padres have placed reliever Drew Pomeranz on the 10-day injured list with a left shoulder impingement and selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Ivan Castillo, according to Dennis Lin of The Athletic.

This adds to a long history of injuries for Pomeranz, who spent time on the IL in 2020 — his first season of a four-year, $34M contract — with a shoulder strain. Pomeranz more recently dealt with left forearm tightness during the spring, but he was ready to go when Opening Day arrived. Since then, he has continued to serve as an integral part of the Padres’ bullpen with a 1.98 ERA/2.98 SIERA and a strong 35.7 percent strikeout rate against a less impressive 12.5 percent groundball rate over 13 2/3 frames. Additionally, Pomeranz ranks second on the team in holds (five), which will make him even more difficult to replace.

The injury to Pomeranz opens the door for the 25-year-old Castillo, who’s set for his big league debut. Castillo has already made his Triple-A debut this year and slashed an excellent .444/.516/.519 with two stolen bases across 31 plate appearances. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranked the 5-foot-9 switch-hitter 34th in the Padres’ deep farm system earlier this week and wrote that he "has fantastic feel for contact.” The question is whether that will transfer to the majors.