Padres Option Luis Perdomo to El Paso, Call Up Alex Dickerson

San Diego, California-

After years of injuries and setbacks, Alex Dickerson is finally back up in the Major Leagues.

To make room for Dickerson, Luis Perdomo has been sent down to Triple-A El Paso while Brett Kennedy was sent to the 60-day IL. He’ll join Miguel Diaz as another Padres pitcher to hit the 60-Day IL as Diaz was placed there after Cal Quantrill was called up to make his Major League debut.

The last time Dickerson was in a Padres jersey, it was in 2016.

Dickerson hit .257/.333/.455 while blasting 16 doubles, two triples, ten home runs, and 37 RBI in just 84 games. The future seemed bright for the Poway native, but injuries the next couple years kept him out of action. First, it was a bulging disc in his back that kept him out of commission for all of 2017, and then Tommy John surgery on his left elbow kept him out of the entire 2018 season.

The #Padres have optioned RHP Luis Perdomo to Triple-A El Paso, transferred RHP Brett Kennedy to the 60-day IL and selected the contract of OF Alex Dickerson from ELP.

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) May 3, 2019

Dickerson finally got over the injury bug that plagued him for three years and got back to playing for the Chihuahuas where, in just 86 at-bats, he mashed to a .378/.480/.622 batting line with five doubles, five home runs, and 19 RBI. Great plate discipline certainly helped him as he walked 13 times while striking out just 17 times.

Unfortunately for Dickerson, every position he plays is currently blocked off at every pass. Eric Hosmer is the man at first base, while Wil Myers, Hunter Renfroe, and Franmil Reyes are all splitting time at the two cornerstone positions. However, over the last 15 games, Renfroe and Myers are hitting .171 and .189, respectively, so if Dickerson wants to fight for a spot in the starting lineup, now is as good of a time as any.

Called up on April 14th, Perdomo appeared in five games, pitching seven innings while only allowing three runs while striking out seven. Now strictly a relief pitcher, Perdomo looked sharp in his five-game stint. His only bad outing came against the Braves where he allowed all three of the runs, but Perdomo logged two innings in a game twice while giving the tired Padres bullpen a breather when it needed it most. For now, he’ll join Phil Maton in the El Paso bullpen.

Initially diagnosed with a lat strain in March, Kennedy has been on the 10-day IL since the beginning of the season. It appears that the strain was more serious than originally diagnosed, as Kennedy will now be shut down for the foreseeable future.

Jason Freund

I am currently attending San Diego State University while working on achieving a major in journalism. At SDSU, I write for The Daily Aztec while also hosting the sports radio show “Picked Off”, for KCR Radio. A loyal fan of San Diego sports, I hope to bring content that you will enjoy reading.