Padres promote Campusano from alternate site

The Padres, who've gotten little production from their backstops this season, on Friday promoted catcher and No. 52 overall prospect Luis Campusano from their alternate training site at the University of San Diego.

Campusano fills the roster spot of right-hander Luis Perdomo, who was placed on the 10-day Injured List with right forearm inflammation. San Diego also moved left-hander Jose Castillo to the 45-day IL.

The fourth-ranked Padres prospect will be making his Major League debut. He became the third catcher added to San Diego’s active roster in the last week. The club made two deadline day trades to bring in help at the position, acquiring Austin Nola from the Mariners and Jason Castro from the Angels.

All three transactions are part of an effort to improve one of the Padres’ weaknesses. They entered Saturday in second place in the National League West with a 23-16 record and would be the No. 4 seed if the postseason began this weekend. But San Diego catchers have combined to hit .142/.234/.283. Much of those numbers can be credited to Austin Hedges, who was traded to the Indians in the Mike Clevinger deal, and Francisco Mejía, who’s on the IL with a left thumb contusion. Luis Torrens, 24, got a chance at the job when Mejía went down, but he was included in the group of prospects the Padres sent to Seattle for Nola.

While Nola hit .301 with the Mariners before being dealt, Campusano possesses the most offensive upside of the Padres’ current catching trio. The 21-year-old, selected 39th overall pick in the 2017 Draft, erupted at the plate last year. He spent the entire season with Class A Advanced Lake Elsinore and led the California League with a .325 batting average while hitting a career-high 15 homers. The Georgia native finished second on the circuit with 81 RBIs, a .509 slugging percentage, a .906 OPS and 31 doubles. And he didn’t sacrifice discipline to obtain that power, striking out only 57 times while drawing 52 walks in 487 plate appearances. Campusano was named Cal Leagle co-MVP with Lancaster's Luis Castro.

Prior to his arrival in The Show, Campusano was performing well at the Padres’ alternate training site, according to MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell. Sources told Cassavell that Campusano had hit some “loud home runs.”

Campusano's defense is not as strong as his bat -- he threw out 22.7 percent of would-be basestealers last year. But he's still regarded as the Padres' catcher of the future. His callup -- along with San Diego's activity at the Trade Deadline and position in the standings -- indicates that future may have arrived.