Padres have to find more at-bats for Luis Campusano before this gets silly

The San Diego Padres enter the second half as a .500 team, practically eliminating them from the NL West race and landing them at the periphery of the Wild Card chase. It's not a completely disastrous outcome given how poor their injury luck has been on the pitching side of things, but it also means that the Friars will need to come out of the post-All-Star-Break gates on fire to ensure their status as trade deadline buyers.

To that end, perhaps it's time to get Luis Campusano in the lineup on a daily basis. The 27-year-old backstop was scratched from the lineup prior to the final game of the first half due to abdominal soreness, though he's otherwise taken over as the Padres' starting catcher in Freddy Fermin's absence.

Campusano himself missed about two months of action with a fractured toe, but he's been sensational when healthy in 2026. In fact, among all Padres players with at least 80 plate appearances this season, he ranks first in wRC+ (168), OPS (.966), and ISO (.271). For good measure, he's also fifth on the team in fWAR (1.0) despite far less playing time than nearly everyone else on the roster.

He's finally become one of the best offensive catchers in the league, and he's made significant strides behind the plate to boot. Much like with Ty France and Samad Taylor, it would behoove the Padres to give Campusano all that he can handle going forward.

Padres can't let Freddy Fermin eat into Luis Campusano's playing time

In a word, the Friars' first-half offense was ugly. A lack of power from Fernando Tatis Jr. didn't help, though below-average production from Xander Bogaerts, Manny Machado, and Jackson Merrill all but ensured poor metrics across the board for this lineup.

Another big piece of that lifeless attack was Freddy Fermin, who landed on the injured list in early July with a head contusion. Prior to that, the starting backstop hit just .152/.252/.268 (51 wRC+), evoking memories of last year's painful catching tandem of Elias Diaz and Martin Maldonado.

Fermin is the superior defender behind the plate, which holds significant value for a team that is barely surviving on the mound. But Campusano's offensive production is just too great to ignore, particularly when he can help make up for his superstar teammates' lack of thump. Whenever Fermin returns -- which hopefully won't be too long from now, as he began a rehab assignment prior to the end of the first half -- he can and should take back the starting catcher role, with the stipulation that Craig Stammen find a way to get Campusano in the lineup (likely at DH or even first base).

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