San Diego Padres News: Pair of pitchers undergo Tommy John surgery

Whenever the 2020 season starts, the San Diego Padres will be without both Reggie Lawson and Andres Munoz, who had Tommy John surgery.

To add insult to injury (no pun intended), the San Diego Padres will be without two pitchers this season in both Reggie Lawson and Andres Munoz. According to reports, both of them underwent Tommy John surgery on Friday.

Lawson was selected with the 71st overall pick in the 2016 MLB Draft. He made just six appearances for Double-A Amarillo before being shut down. The 22-year-old reportedly was close to submitting his paperwork for TJ surgery then but opted for platelet-rich plasma injections.

Austin Hedges made a point of how good Lawson’s velocity looked in spring, indicating his fastball hit as high as 95 or 96 MPH. But now he’ll miss all of the 2020 season and potentially some of 2021 as well. He wasn’t expected to be part of the big league roster, but this setback certainly doesn’t help anything.

Signed as an international free agent in July 2015, Andres Munoz will also miss the 2020 season. He made his major league debut last year, as a 20-year-old, and became the youngest Padres player to record a save. In his debut, the radar gun recorded his fastball at 101.2 MPH.

Munoz pitched across two levels of the minors last year, all out of the bullpen. At Double-A, he made 16 appearances, posting a 5.40 ERA with 34 strikeouts in 16.2 innings. Likewise, he posted a 3.79 ERA in 19 appearances for Triple-A El Paso where he struck out 24 batters in 19.0 innings.

He had an outside chance of being part of the Padres’ bullpen this season, especially since he has some big league experience. Instead, he’ll be rehabbing for next year.