Padres right-hander Bryan Hoeing is likely to miss the start of the season, according to a report from Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Per Acee, Hoeing is dealing with some discomfort in his throwing elbow and has been shut down by San Diego as a result. Acee added that pitching coach Ruben Niebla expressed some early optimism about the severity of the injury.
“We don’t think it’s as serious (as it could be), but we have to be conscious and take a look at it and be able to make the right assessments,” Niebla told reporters, as relayed by Acee.
More details on Hoeing’s status and timeline for return will surely be available in the coming days, once the team has had the opportunity to get Hoeing’s elbow looked at. In any case, it makes sense for the Padres to be extremely cautious with Hoeing at this point given how damaging a severe elbow injury can be to a player’s career. That’s especially true for the 29-year-old Hoeing, who pitched just eight innings in 2025 due to shoulder issues that left him sidelined for much of the 2025 season.
Despite that injury-plagued campaign last year, Hoeing figures to be firmly in the Padres’ bullpen mix if healthy. He enjoyed a breakout campaign with the Marlins in 2024 that got even better after being traded (alongside Tanner Scott) to San Diego at that year’s trade deadline. The righty sports a 2.34 ERA in 61 2/3 innings of work since the start of the 2024 season, and has posted a sterling 1.99 ERA in 25 appearances as a member of the Padres. While he’s not much of a strikeout pitcher, with a measly 19.5%, a 50.3% ground ball rate more than makes up for the lack of whiffs. That in combination with a manageable walk rate has led even more advanced metrics like SIERA (3.77) to be generally impressed with his work over the past two years in spite of their general favor for pitchers with high strikeout rates.
Of course, in a stacked Padres bullpen that likely left Hoeing in position to receive only middle relief work, as the late innings are set to be handled by a combination of Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon, Jeremiah Estrada, Jason Adam, and David Morgan. Hoeing could theoretically work his way into that mix with another big year like 2024, but for now seems more likely to handle the middle innings alongside Matsui when the pair are healthy. Matsui has also been sidelined of late due to an adductor strain, but Acee suggests the 30-year-old southpaw is more likely to be ready for the start of the season than Hoeing. Comments from Niebla seem to corroborate that, as the team’s pitching coach actually suggested Matsui could start throwing off the mound later this week.
