Padres' $15 Million Addition Has No Timeline to Debut This Season

San Diego Padres utility player Sung-Mun Song began his inaugural season with the team on the injured list due to an oblique strain.

Manager Craig Stammen provided the latest update on him while speaking to reporters on Monday.

“He played this whole week in Tacoma for El-Paso. Reports came back good. He’s playing all around the infield, did really well. Had some really good games offensively,” Stammen said.

"I'd love to see more of that and get him some more at-bats and get him more accustomed to playing baseball in the United States."

Stammen added there is currently no timeline for Song to make his MLB debut.

"No timeline on it," Stammen said. "We're having discussions daily about those types of things. We'll figure it out as we go."

The Padres signed Song this offseason to a four-year deal in hopes that he would provide versatility with his defense and success against right-handed pitchers with his bat.

President of baseball operations A.J. Preller loves having versatile players on the roster and Song fits that archetype. He is poised to be the Padres' next super utility man if he can find success at his new defensive positions.

"Any player that can provide versatility is a valuable player in the big leagues,” Stammen said this spring. “A lot of the teams that end up getting to the World Series, winning the World Series, they have parts that are moveable. You saw it with the Dodgers last year with how they used Kiké Hernández, Miguel Rojas and Tommy Edman, moving them all over the field.

"We see him as being able to do that — to play third base, second base, maybe some first base, maybe some outfield.”

At Triple-A, Song has gone 9-for-32 (.281) with seven runs batted in and an OPS of .674. He has also struck out 11 times.

The Padres don't seem to be in a rush to get Song to the majors as he acclimates to big league pitching in his first season of stateside baseball. Song getting called up would also cause a roster crunch for the team, which would mean another bench player would lose his spot.

Padres Offense Starting to Heat Up

The Padres' biggest problem to start the year was their sluggish offense, so bringing Song up before he is ready to make an impact in the lineup would be counterintuitive.

The Friars are back to .500 after a 5-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. It seems the offense has finally hit its stride with the Padres' 7-8-9 hitters recording two hits each in Monday's shutout win.

“They say hitting is contagious,” Nick Castellanos said. “Hitting is also mostly about attitude. So I think that when we have an attitude and a swag about us, it can become infectious, and then everybody wants to get on board. And then you have a lineup that’s doing their thing.”

The Padres have scored 13 runs over their last two games but will have a tall task ahead of them on Tuesday against reigning National League Cy Young award winner Paul Skenes.