The Padres announced they’ve selected infielder Luis Rengifo onto the big league roster. He takes the place of Samad Taylor, who lands on the 10-day injured list with a right oblique strain. San Diego already had an opening on the 40-man roster.
Rengifo quickly returns to the big leagues after being released by the Brewers last month. The switch-hitting utilityman signed a minor league deal with San Diego on June 26 and will make his team debut after just six games in Triple-A. Rengifo hit .320 with a couple homers in a brief stint with their top affiliate in El Paso. He hadn’t produced at the big league level this season, batting .205/.280/.254 without a home run in 205 plate appearances for Milwaukee.
It’s the second consecutive down year for Rengifo. He had just a .238/.287/.335 slash with nine longballs in 147 games for the Angels last season. Rengifo was an above-average hitter over the three seasons before that, running a .273/.323/.431 line between 2022-24. He hasn’t been the same since undergoing season-ending wrist surgery in August ’24. There haven’t been any significant changes to his batted ball metrics, though, and he’s swinging harder this year than he did in either of the previous two seasons.
Milwaukee used Rengifo primarily at third base. He also made his first two MLB starts as a first baseman this season and played mostly second base with the Angels. He’s not in the lineup tonight even with Manny Machado day-to-day with a minor toe injury. Sung-Mun Song is starting at the hot corner with Miguel Andujar drawing in as the designated hitter against a right-handed starter in Arizona’s Jose Cabrera.
Taylor’s injury leaves the Padres without their primary left fielder for at least a week and a half. The offseason minor league signee has hit .330 and stolen six bases in 26 games since being called up in the wake of the Ramón Laureano injury. Although Taylor was striking out too often to keep up that kind of offensive pace, he’d provided a much needed spark. Gavin Sheets and Jase Bowen figure to split the left field work for the time being.
