Padres place struggling Manny Machado on IL due to fractured hand
Manny Machado was already having a rough season. Now he could be facing some significant time off.
The San Diego Padres placed the All-Star third baseman on the 10-day injured list due to a fractured hand, the team announced Friday. Triple-A utility man Brandon Dixon was called up in a corresponding move.
It will be Machado's first trip to the injured list since 2014, when he was with the Baltimore Orioles.
Machado sustained the injury Monday against the Kansas City Royals. He left the game in the second inning after taking an 80.8 mph slider to the hand from Royals pitcher Brad Keller.
#Padres Manny Machado left tonight after getting hit by a pitch on top of his hand. Initially remained in but left the game after all.
TBD on severity of the injury. pic.twitter.com/TVAe8RDCFL— Mike Kurland (@Mike_Kurland) May 16, 2023
The severity of Machado's injury was initially unclear. Things got even more foggy when Padres manager Bob Melvin revealed Wednesday that further imaging had shown a fracture in Machado's hand, but the team didn't think it required an IL stint. That position has since changed.
Machado was seen with a small cast on his left hand while appearing at the announcement of the MLS expansion team in San Diego, in which he will be a minority owner.
Machado's bad season gets worse for Padres
Machado reportedly wasn't optimistic about his recovery time Friday, telling Dennis Lin of The Athletic that his fractured metacarpal needs to heal, and “it’s not like the ankle stuff last year.”
In the case of that ankle injury, Machado ended up missing nine games over the course of 11 days but avoided a trip to the injured list. Judging from Machado's words, he will be missing a lot more than 11 days this time. Then again, it's not like he was carrying the Padres this season.
Machado currently holds a .231/.282/.372 line at the plate, with five homers and worrying peripherals. Based on his batted ball data and strikeout rate, Baseball Savant has him at a .213 expected batting average, indicating that his down numbers are the product of more than a month and a half of bad luck.
Meanwhile, the Padres have opened the season with a 20-24 record and sit 7.5 games back of the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers.
None of this is what you want to hear when you're the team that signed Machado to an 11-year, $350 million contract after he opted out of his previous deal, but the Padres can at least hope that his track record carries more weight than short-term struggles and a rare injury. Machado finished second in National League MVP voting last year and has received MVP votes each of the past three years.
