Padres claim Diamondbacks infielder Sergio Alcantara off waivers

The San Diego Padres lost Matt Beaty to a left shoulder injury during Saturday’s blowout loss to the Miami Marlins. It wasn’t clear how bad the injury was for Beaty but the team announced earlier today that he is going on the 10-day IL (left shoulder impingement). Reliever Pierce Johnson, who initially was on the 10-day IL (right forearm tendinitis) joins Austin Adams on the 60-day IL.

Because Johnson is now on the 60-day IL, it opens up a 40-man roster spot and that likely would go to Sergio Alcantara, who was claimed off waivers from the Arizona Diamondbacks today. The 25-year-old was designated for assignment on May 6 and has played second base, third base, and shortstop in 2022. So far this year though he has a -0.6 WAR and is batting .186 with a 51 OPS+ (100 is league average).

Alcantara spent time with the Detroit Tigers in 2020 and the Chicago Cubs in 2021 before being dealt to Arizona in late March. It isn’t clear if Alcantara is even going to be called up to the big league club but if he is going to be, it likely would be to replace C.J. Abrams.

Abrams, 21, hasn’t gotten off to a great start in his first major league season. After homering in the Padres home opener on April 14, he hasn’t hit another one since then and is hitting .182 with a 65 OPS+.

The primary reason why Abrams was called up on Opening Day was because of Fernando Tatis Jr.’s wrist injury that occurred in the offseason during the lockout. Ha-Seong Kim was the only other primary shortstop on the roster so the Padres decided to try to develop Abrams at the major league level.

We’ll see if Abrams is indeed sent down today or sometime soon and if he is, it will allow him to get more at-bats at the minor league level while playing every day, which is something he isn’t doing right now. The Padres might also try to give him more reps in the outfield, which is a position Abrams played a little bit in spring training and twice during the regular season.