San Diego Padres outfielder Jurickson Profar exited his team's win over the Oakland Athletic on Tuesday night due to an injury that we now know is a sore knee, Padres manager Mike Shildt said.
“I mean, it's something he's been battling and playing with a little bit,” Shildt said, via ESPN. “… It's something he's dealt with and medically we have a handle on. I think we've got a pretty good idea of what this is and we've been able to treat it and get ahead of it. Tonight it just was one of those nights that wasn't good for him.”
San Diego currently can't afford to lose Profar for any considerable length of time.
The 31-year-old leads the National League with a .424 OBP and is hitting .324 with 10 home runs and 45 RBI over 284 plate appearances. He went 1-for-2 with a couple of RBI before leaving the game against the Athletics.
Profar signed with the Padres for his second stint with the club last August after being released by the Colorado Rockies. He played in 14 contests with San Diego last season, slashing .295/.367/.409 with one homer and seven RBI across 49 trips to the dish. He re-signed with the Padres during the offseason.
Padres' Jurickson Profar is an incredibly late bloomer
There was a time when Profar was one of the top prospects in all of baseball. As a matter of fact, going into the 2013 campaign, he was ranked No. 1.
However, things did not exactly materialize for Profar. At least not early on.
The Curacao native broke into the big leagues with the Texas Rangers in 2012 and earned his first significant playing time in 2013, slashing .234/.308/.336 with six long balls and 26 RBI through 324 plate appearances. A shoulder injury then kept him out for all of 2014 and 2015.
Profar returned to action in 2016, playing in 90 games and slashing .239/.321/.338 with five dingers and 20 RBI. A concussion hi-jacked his 2017 campaign, and then in 2018, he played his first full season and finally began to show signs of life, registering a slash line of .254/.335/.458 with 20 home runs and 77 RBI.
Still, Profar was a major disappointment, and the Rangers ended up trading him to the Athletics as part of a three-team deal that ensuing offseason.
He spent one season in Oakland, slashing .218/.301/.410 with 20 homers and 67 RBI. The A's dealt Profar to San Diego in December 2019, where he would go on to spend the next three seasons. His best campaign in his first go-around with the Friars came in 2022, when he slashed .243/.331/.391 with 15 dingers and 58 RBI.
Profar then signed with the Rockies last year before ultimately being released after a very underwhelming season.
Somehow, Profar has broken through in his early 30s and is doing what many expected him to do when he first entered the majors over a decade ago. There may be some luck involved, as Profar has a very inflated .356 BABIP, well above his lifetime average of .272 and also the league average of .290. But the Padres will obviously take that good fortune as they make their push for a Wild Card spot in the National League playoff picture.
San Diego is 36-35 entering Wednesday's action and currently holds the second Wild Card slot in the NL.
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