The San Diego Padres can smell a playoff berth. Entering Thursday’s game against the New York Mets, their chances of reaching the postseason were 96.5 percent, according to Baseball Reference, a refreshing change of pace after their stunning disappointment in 2023.
They aren’t about to roll the dice with their chances this year.
Thursday, the Padres optioned starting pitcher Matt Waldron to Triple-A El Paso. On the surface, the news came as a shock.
San Diego (72-56) had been exceedingly patient with the 27-year-old right-hander, giving him a team-leading 26 starts in what was becoming a breakout season. Waldron is 7-11 with a 4.79 earned-run average.
Dig a bit deeper, however, and the move is revealing of a team with a sense of urgency to seize the moment.
Waldron’s last 10 starts have been abysmal. Since his ERA bottomed out at 3.43 on June 24, he’s gone 2-5 with a 7.09 ERA (5.32 FIP).
The knuckleballer suffered his worst start of the season Wednesday against the Minnesota Twins. He allowed 12 hits and 10 runs in 4.1 innings during the Padres’ 11-4 loss.
“I believe I belong on this field,” Waldron told reporters after that game. “Obviously, that doesn’t show right now, especially on a day like this. Physically, I think I’m capable of getting there. … I got to go to the drawing board. It’s going to take some serious work.”
For now, at least, the Padres disagreed with Waldron’s self-assessment.
A former eighth-round draft pick who did not debut until he was 26 years old in 2023, Waldron was somewhat of a longshot to get this far in his first full major league season. He made only eight appearances last year as the Padres failed to clinch a postseason berth despite running the highest payroll in the club’s history.
This year, he found himself in the mix to land a starting rotation spot, as the Padres cut ties with free agents Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo.
Not only did Waldron grab a rotation spot out of spring training, he held it down for the first four and a half months of the season as the Padres raced out to second place in a hypercompetitive NL West.
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Waldron had increased his knuckleball usage this season, a pleasant surprise that coincided with his grip on a rotation spot. He was the only pitcher in MLB to regularly incorporate the unique pitch into his repertoire.
Now, Waldron will try to regain his roster spot in San Diego away from the major league spotlight.
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