Padres send down Ray Kerr to make room for Blake Snell

The San Diego Padres announced today that they’re sending reliever Ray Kerr down to Triple-A El Paso to make room for starting pitcher Blake Snell on the 26-man roster.

Sending Kerr down to Triple-A isn’t a surprise considering he hasn’t pitched in any high leverage spots and San Diego has essentially added MacKenzie Gore and Nick Martinez to the bullpen this week. Last night in his first relief appearance, Gore went three shutout innings before handing it off to closer Taylor Rogers for the save.

Kerr might have a 7.71 ERA but don’t pay too much attention to that because it’s based off such a small sample size. He’s pitched just 2.1 innings in the big leagues for San Diego, walking one batter and giving up one hit.

Kerr now has the opportunity to pitch more consistently in minor league games sort of like how C.J. Abrams has been getting more at-bats since he was sent down last week when Luke Voit and Wil Myers were activated.

Snell is making his first regular season start of 2022—4.5 weeks after injuring his groin warming up before what was supposed to be his first 2022 start on April 10 in Arizona. For more on tonight’s matchup, you can watch the pregame show below!