Padres Make Roster Move, Reinstate Key Pitcher From Injured List

On Thursday, the San Diego Padres quietly optioned right-handed pitcher David Morgan to Triple-A, per the team's transaction log.

On Friday, the reasoning became clear.

The Padres announced that right-handed pitcher Jeremiah Estrada has been reinstated from the 15-day injured list. He is replacing Morgan, who was sent to the minor leagues amid his struggles.

We have reinstated RHP Jeremiah Estrada from the 15-day IL and optioned RHP David Morgan to Triple-A El Paso.
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) May 1, 2026

Estrada was placed on the injured list three weeks ago due to right elbow tendinitis. His velocity was way down, leading to concerns about a significant injury.

“We’ll dissect it,” Estrada said at the time. “We have the best pitching staff in baseball. All it takes is just go back into the office and look back at what’s going on. I’m trying my hardest to say I’m not worried about it. But I am not. This game is about taking time and patience. You’ve got to figure it out quick, though, it’s the big leagues.”

Fortunately, Estrada bounced back relatively quickly, and saw an uptick in his velocity on his rehab assignment. Now, he's back with the Padres.

Jeremiah Estrada Struggled Early in 2026

Estrada made seven appearances with the Padres before going on the injured list, sporting a 5.14 ERA with eight strikeouts to five walks over seven innings of work. A majority of that damage came in his 2026 debut, though, when he allowed four earned runs over 0.2 innings in a loss to the Detroit Tigers.

“Just a bad outing, you know,” Estrada said after the game. "It sucks just to know we haven’t won a game and yet we had the opportunity and I lost it.”

“It’s unfortunate,” he added. “The way I look at it is it sucks to lose at the end of the day, but get the bad ones out of the way early. That’s all I can say.”

Estrada didn't allow an earned run in his next six appearances, but did allow the ghost runners to score in both the 10th and 11th innings in his last appearance against the Colorado Rockies before going on the IL.

On his rehab assignment, he made just two appearances, pitching two scoreless innings with one walk and zero hits allowed. The Padres clearly felt they had seen enough, bringing Estrada back to the big league team.

Padres Option David Morgan to Triple-A

As for Morgan, he's struggled at the big league level this season, sporting a 6.08 ERA over 13.1 innings of work.

Morgan has 15 strikeouts to 11 walks, and nearly allowed more earned runs this year (nine) than he did in 47.1 innings last year (14). He had a 2.66 ERA in 2025.

The Padres have high hopes for Morgan, but will allow him to recalibrate in Triple-A for now. He will likely be back with the team sooner rather than later once he hones in on his command issues that have plagued him thus far at the major league level.

Add us as a preferred source on Google