Padres to Promote Carlos Asuaje Soon?

The Padres need some infield help after several injuries to their starting infielders at 2nd and 3rd. Could Carlos Asuaje, who is hitting well in AAA, be the answer?

Asuaje of course was acquired in the off-season Craig Kimbrel trade and could benefit by the misfortune of several Padres starting infielders, not to mention struggles by veterans who were hoped to plug those holes.

More from Padres Prospects

• Padres’ top prospect tearing up AFL after injury-riddled 2022
• An updated look at the San Diego Padres’ farm system ranking
• 2 Padres rookies who could be on the move in potential Juan Soto trade
• San Diego Padres prospects to watch at the MLB trade deadline
• Fans, experts giddy at Padres taking Dylan Lesko in MLB draft

Asuaje is the 15th ranked Padres prospect but plays second and third base. The Padres started the season with Yangervis Solarte at third base and Corey Spangenberg at second base. Both went down early and have hit snags in their rehab assignments.

In their replacement the Padres have played Adam Rosales, Jose Pirela, Alexi Amarista, Jemile Weeks, and Brett Wallace to fill the gaps. Amarista joined the pair on the DL shortly after being recalled from AAA and Weeks injured his hamstring not long ago as well. Battle of attrition.

Meanwhile, in AAA Carlos Asuaje was recently named to the MLBPipeline.com Prospect team of the week after hitting .444/.516/.741 with 8 runs scored, 1 HR and 6 RBI. On the season he is hitting .327 with 4 home runs and 19 RBI.

While Wallace has had some nice home runs filling in at third base, second base production has been pretty weak. Additionally he did only hit .200 to go along with those three home runs. Jemile Weeks hit just .140 in 50 AB’s, Rosales just .178. So he wouldn’t exactly be upsetting any hot hand at the Major League level.

It certainly seems like giving Asuaje a chance to see what he can do at the Major League level until Spangenberg returns would be a low risk move and a chance to bring more youth to the Padres and help figure out if they can help the club compete this year and into the future.