Padres: Jayce Tingler plans to use three-headed monster at catcher

Luis Campusano made his major league debut on Friday night, and it appears the plan going forward is to use all three catchers.

If you had Luis Campusano taking a pitch to the calf for his first time getting on base in the big leagues, you might want to purchase a lotto ticket. The 21-year-old was promoted and started at catcher in the Padres 7-0 win against Oakland on Friday night. After Wil Myers singled in the fifth, Campusano was hit by the pitch, which sparked a four-run inning for the Padres offense.

The Friars recently acquired both Austin Nola and Jason Castro in separate deals, and it appears that manager Jayce Tingler will utilize all three going forward.

“They’re all going to catch,” said Tingler in the postgame presser. “They’re all going to play.”

Campusano homered on a laser to the opposite field in his final at-bat of the game, giving the Padres a little extra cushion in their lead.

Nola was acquired from the Mariners with the majority of his brief major league career coming at first base. Surprisingly, he only has 37 games at catcher under his belt in the big leagues, and the plan is to utilize him all over the field. He has reportedly been taking grounders at second and third base and can play all four infield positions if needed.

Castro looks like the backup catcher going forward with perhaps Nola and Campusano alternating days, as the latter was not brought up to ride the bench.

Campusano had a breakout year with High-A Lake Elsinore last year, posting a .325/.396/.509 line with 15 long balls and 81 RBI in 110 games. He’s likely going to struggle, and his two strikeouts on Friday weren’t pretty by any means. But if his opposite-field home run was indicative of what he’s capable of, the Padres are in a good spot.

Just a week ago, catcher was arguably the biggest black hole on the roster, and now they are determining how to play everyone.