San Diego Padres: Joey Fuego Back on the Hill, Mitchell to DL

The San Diego Padres made two roster moves ahead of their matchup with the Oakland Athletics today, as per the team’s Twitter account.

After spending over a month on the disabled list with a strained right hip, the San Diego Padres will welcome their rookie left-hander back to the mound for an afternoon matinee at Petco Park.

As per the team, Joey Lucchesi will make his return to the San Diego Padres this afternoon against the Oakland Athletics in the final game of a two-game interleague series.

The 24-year-old left-hander hit the disabled list on May and made one, four-inning appearance for High-A Lake Elsinore this past week (faced the minimum, striking out six).

Lucchesi was having himself a terrific opening month or so until he got hurt. As per Fangraphs, the young lefty ranks eight among rookie starters with over 40 innings pitched with his 0.4 wins above replacement in just nine starts.

He’s back!!

Lucchesi’s 4.22 fielding independent pitching rating still ranks seventh in all of baseball among that same group. Walker Buehler of the Dodgers leads the way there with an astonishing 2.26 FIP. His 9.13 strikeouts per nine rank sixth, behind Domingo German (10.57) of the Yankees (withholding Shohei Othani, 11.13).

His 83.3 left-on-base percentage is still best among those rookie starters (min. 40 IP) and only three of those pitchers have over 60 innings pitched this season (Tyler Mahle, Matt Koch, Caleb Smith), signifying that Joey Fuego really isn’t that far behind his first-year counterparts, even after missing a month.

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Mitchell sent to 10-day DL

The San Diego Padres sent starter-turned-reliever Bryan Mitchell to the 10-day disabled list with an elbow impingement in his (right) pitching arm.

Mitchell, 27, owned a 6.47 earned-run average as a starter this season with sixteen strikeouts and a double-take inducing 26 bases-on-balls.

After his last start on May 5 (three earned runs in 2.1 innings vs. the Dodgers), Mitchell has pitched exclusively out of the bullpen, in long relief at times.

Bryan Mitchell’s ERA as a reliever was 8.27 over five appearances (16.1 innings). Walks again were an issue (nine, compared to seven strikeouts). Mitchell gave up a run or more* in every one of his relief appearances this season.

Next: Padres Arizona League Rundown

*Mitchell allowed one run in only one of his relief appearances. He allowed three, four, two, and five in his others, respectively.