Rodolfo Durán gives the Padres an unexpected answer before catcher depth starts to crack

The Padres are not exactly swimming in a comfortable roster situation right now. It’s kind of been the theme of the season so far. And it’s the catching room’s turn again as the Padres placed Freddy Fermín on the 7-day concussion injured list on June 14, one day after he was struck in the head by a warmup pitch from Yuki Matsui during Saturday’s game against the Orioles. The pitch bounced in the dirt before the bottom of the sixth inning and hit Fermín in the side of the head, forcing him out of the game.

San Diego selected Blake Hunt from Triple-A El Paso to help cover the position, with Rodolfo Durán starting Sunday’s series finale at Camden Yards. Durán showed up and showed out against the Orioles. He went 2-for-4 with a double, two runs scored, three RBI and a 432-foot homer in the Padres’ 5-2 win.

Rodolfo Durán is making the Padres’ thin catcher room easier to stomach

Catching depth is a very thin room. It’s rarely a position you can just plug in and get useful production. Durán has been pretty phenomenal behind this dish with one of the fastest pop times in the league (1.87, 93rd percentile). But he’s also entering this stretch as the next man up slashing just .173/.333/.500.

Still, his homer against Baltimore didn’t come cheap. He crushed the ball at 106.3 mph and traveled 432 feet, enough power to turn heads from both dugouts. So when Durán gives them a three-RBI game and helps carry a series-clinching win, the Padres should take it and not apologize for how it looks.

Despite the ugly batting average, Durán’s .500 slugging percentage jumps off the page. Three of his six hits have left the yard. And he’s also mixed in two doubles. That means five of his six hits have gone for extra bases. A small sample, sure. But when a backup catcher is giving the Padres occasional pop instead of automatic outs, that’s not nothing. Especially with this team.

In recent weeks, the bottom of the Padres roster has been shuffled like a deck of cards. Samad Taylor, Will Wagner, Jase Bowen, Nick Solak, and now Hunt. The whole thing just feels like a Padres roster, which is to say: kind of weird, chaotic, and probably a little more complicated than it needs to be. And Durán fits right into all of that.

But instead of looking at this stretch as pure survival, the Padres can at least look at it as an audition. Maybe Durán can catch lightning for a few games. And for now, that would be enough.

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