Another Padres Infielder Has Oblique Injury, Will Likely Miss Start of Season

San Diego Padres infielder Will Wagner has an oblique injury that is likely to sideline him for the beginning of the 2026 season.

“Will has a pulled oblique,” manager Craig Stammen said. “He did it about 10 days ago. His was a little bit more significant than some of the other ones, so he hasn’t been able to do a whole lot here lately.”

Multiple Padres players, including another infielder in Sung-Mun Song, are dealing with oblique injuries. However, it appears Wagner's is more severe, which isn't good news for his chances of playing early in the season.

Oblique injuries are tricky as they tend to linger and prevent a player from doing a majority of baseball activities. Song, for example, was out for about four weeks after injuring his oblique in January. Some players are sidelined for months as they wait for their oblique to heal.

Wagner, 27, was among the Padres competing for a spot on the Opening Day roster this spring training. The former Houston Astros draft pick was acquired by the Padres at last year's trade deadline from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for catcher Brandon Valenzuela.

Wagner appeared in 15 games for the Padres at the big league level last season, going 2-for-15 (.133) with an OPS of .369. In 40 games with the Blue Jays prior to the trade, he hit .237 with an OPS of .634.

Wagner is a versatile defender, having played at first, second and third base at the MLB level in his brief career. He's the son of MLB Hall of Famer Billy Wagner, a seven-time All-Star reliever.

Sung-Mun Song oblique injury update

Song, like Wagner, is another infielder competing for a spot on the Opening Day roster. His January oblique injury flared back up during a Cactus League game last week, and he hasn't been able to swing a bat since while doing minimal work on the field.

With every day that goes by, his chances of playing on Opening Day get slimmer.

“Still monitoring him day by day, increasingly the workload little by little," Stammen said of Kim. "He’s done a lot of defense, base running. He’s probably getting close to start swinging, but no exact date on that.”

Kim came to MLB this season after nine seasons in the Korea Baseball Organization. The 29-year-old was a Gold-Glove-equivalent infielder who had a career .283 average with 80 home runs, 454 RBIs and an OPS of .779 across his nine seasons. He's 4-for-16 (.250) this spring with an OPS of .806.

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