San Diego Padres pitcher Matt Waldron has been benched indefinitely after undergoing a surgical procedure to “drain” his hemorrhoids.
“[Matt] had to have surgery to drain it and make it better,” Padres manager Craig Stammen told reporters on Wednesday, February 25. “So he’s been in the hospital the last couple days.”
Stammen, 41, described Waldron’s recovery as a “week-to-week” situation, meaning that it’s possible that the pitcher could miss Major League Baseball’s opening day on March 25. Waldron was in contention for a starting pitcher spot with the Padres, though it now seems unlikely that he’ll heal fast enough.
His injury was initially described to reporters as “an infection in his rear end,” though the procedure was later clarified to be related to hemorrhoids.
“[His return will be] depending on how that incision heals and how he’s feeling moving around,” Stammen explained during a press briefing.
The San Diego Padres manager insisted that the team’s medical staff would “take care of [Matt] the best we can.”
“Set him up here for the end of spring training, get him going, and then we’ll see where that takes us as the season goes and where his rehab process goes,” Stammen added.
Us Weekly has reached out to the San Diego Padres for comment.
Waldron was previously put out of commission during the preseason in March 2025 when he suffered a left oblique strain while warming up in the bullpen, per MLB.
Matt Waldron in April 2024. Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images
“It’s very frustrating,” Waldron told reporters at the time. “I don’t want to stop throwing entirely. I’m hoping for that. But I’m going to let them tell me what to do and make the decision.”
Waldron, 29, was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 18th round of the 2019 MLB draft and sent to train with the rookie-level Arizona League Indians.
In August 2020, Waldron was part of a nine-player trade that also brought pitcher Mike Clevinger to the Padres. (Clevinger, 35, subsequently played with the Chicago White Sox and most recently signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates’ minor league team earlier in February, per the Associated Press.)
Waldron’s last start for the San Diego Padres came in June 2025, when he earned four earned runs in 4.2 innings during the team’s 4-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. He secured two strikeouts in his two innings on the mound during that game.
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The Omaha, Nebraska, athlete is one of the few remaining knuckleball pitchers left in Major League Baseball. The pitching technique — which was once incredibly popular — involves throwing the ball with little to no rotation, making it difficult for batters to hit.
Speaking to sports broadcaster Sam Levitt in February 2024, Waldron explained that he uses the knuckleball pitch as “a weapon” to throw off batters.
“I’ll make it as good as it can be,” he said. “It’s another weapon. I would say it’s a good changeup … if you execute it properly. At the end of the day, I think it’s an uncompetitive pitch that I’m trying to compete with.”
The pitcher went on, “I make [the knuckleball] sharp during catchplay, and then I bring it to the mound and see what the hitter does. I’m mixing and competing.”
Waldron noted that the “lack of spin” to the knuckleball is what can make the pitching style “uncompetitive” unless it can be mastered.
“You have to commit to that small [pitching] zone with a pitch with no spin,” he added. “It’s very much uncompetitive in my opinion but you can make adjustments with the way I deliver it. … It’s definitely unpredictable.”
He concluded, “It’s just finding a way around that. I know there’s going to be some bad [pitches], in terms of missing the zone. It’s all about sharpening it.”
Prior to being drafted in 2019, Waldron was a baseball standout at Westside High School and later played for the University of Nebraska’s Cornhuskers for four years.
