Padres’ Ryan Weathers leaves game with apparent knee injury

Padres southpaw Ryan Weathers was removed from Sunday’s game after suffering an apparent right knee injury. In the third inning, Weathers fielded a bunt by Jon Gray of the Rockies and tried to tag the pitcher on the first base line. But Weathers appeared to jam his leg while taking an awkward step to avoid a full-on collision. Weathers was in obvious pain and needed to be helped off the field.

At the very least, Weathers looks slated for a trip to the injured list, and there would certainly appear to be worry that the injury is serious enough to end his season. Sunday marked Weathers’ 11th start of 17 overall appearances for the 21-year-old this season, as the rookie left-hander has quickly become an important part of San Diego’s pitching mix. Weathers has a 2.91 ERA through 58 2/3 innings, delivering good numbers despite allowing a lot of hard contact and only a 17.87% strikeout rate.

Most importantly for the Padres, however, Weathers has been able to deliver results and fill innings amidst a number of other injury absences within the rotation.  Adrian Morejon was lost to Tommy John surgery in April, and Dinelson Lamet’s arm issues have limited him to 34 1/3 innings. Blake Snell and Yu Darvish are also currently on the 10-day IL with more minor injuries, although the Padres will surely welcome the All-Star break to get their pitching staff in order.

If Darvish and Snell are able to return in short order, an IL absence for Weathers will leave the Padres with only four starters (Darvish, Snell, Chris Paddack, Joe Musgrove) and not much in the way of experienced depth. There is some hope that Lamet might be able to return relatively soon after the break, but that is no guarantee considering how Lamet has been hampered by injuries all year. While San Diego might turn to bullpen games or an opener/bulk pitcher format in the short term, a Weathers injury will only exacerbate the Padres’ need for starting pitching help at the trade deadline.