BALTIMORE — Freddy Fermin has taken upwards of a half-dozen foul tips off his facemask this season.
It was concerning enough that in mid-April, the Padres held their primary catcher out of a couple of games.
It now appears possible they could do more than that after he was hit in the side of the head by a warmup pitch that bounced up off the dirt and caught him beneath his helmet as he turned to try to avoid it.
Fermin was removed from Sunday’s 9-3 victory over the Orioles before the bottom of the sixth inning, at the same time as shortstop Xander Bogaerts, who was also hit in the head by a baseball.
Bogaerts had been struck in the back of his helmet by a 94 mph fastball in the fifth inning. He remained in the game, scored and played shortstop in the bottom of the fifth. When he experienced “spasms” near his neck, he was replaced in the field by Sung-Mun Song.
Manager Craig Stammen called that a “precaution,” but assessed Fermin differently.
“He’s had a few head shots here over the course of the season so far,” Stammen said. “… He was a little woozy out there. So that’ll probably be a little bit more significant than Bogaerts.”
Catcher is not a spot that a team will risk not having a backup for long. The Padres could try to get through Sunday’s series finale against the Orioles with Rodolfo Durán as their only true catcher and Ty France as the emergency backup.
Triple-A catcher Blake Hunt was not removed from El Paso’s game Saturday night.
Big man
Samad Taylor was called up on June 3 and charged with putting a charge in the Padres.
On Saturday, he continued to do so by hitting his first career home run, a two-run blast in the first inning that gave the Padres a 4-0 lead.
“I know the type of ballplayer I am,” said the 5-foot-8, 160-pound Taylor. “I’m not gonna hit you 25 home runs. So just trying to shorten my swing up and put a good swing on it. I had two strikes. I mean, he threw a pitch, left it middle-middle, and I put a good swing on it. And by the grace of God, it went out.”
Taylor took off sprinting and then, as he was about halfway to second and saw the ball sail over the center field wall, raised his hand and slowed. He wore a gigantic smile and kept looking out toward center field with his arm raised — to the point that he drifted wide as he rounded second base and had to correct his course to make the turn at third.
“I was running and didn’t know until Leody (Taveras, the Orioles center fielder) turned around, and that’s when I knew it was out,” Taylor said. “And then that’s when the turns got a little hectic. … I thought I was gonna hit Blaze (Alexander, the Orioles third baseman) for a second.”
Taylor later looped a single into center field to drive in a run in the fifth inning.
Taylor is 9-for-22 with eight RBIs in his six starts for the Padres.
Andujar to IL
Miguel Andujar jogged, took ground balls at third base and hit before Saturday’s game.
His nagging hamstring strain prevents him pretty much only from running full speed, but that was enough to land him on the 10-day IL.
“He’s getting better,” Stammen said. “But it felt like he wasn’t getting to the point where we could throw him out there and expect him to score from second on a single … go first to third. We didn’t really want it to happen in a game where it’s on the line and he’s coming around third and he feels like he’s really got to push it. So it’s just better to give him the 10 days and get him back fully healthy.”
Andujar played through a balky hamstring virtually all of April and was hitting .299 with an .846 OPS on May 19. He is batting .145 with a .367 OPS in 17 games (59 plate appearances) since. He was removed from last Sunday’s game against the Mets after aggravating his hamstring running out a single. He did pinch-hit twice this week.
The 31-year-old Andujar has been plagued by various injuries throughout an MLB career that began in 2018. His 198 plate appearances in 2026, mostly as the Padres’ designated hitter, are already more than he has had in all but three seasons.
Solak gets in
Nick Solak was called up to replace Andujar on the active roster and likely will get a lot of action against left-handed pitchers.
“He’s kind of a lefty-crusher,” Stammen said. “So he’ll get some opportunities against left-handed pitching, and we’ll see where he fits on defense.”
Solak, who has now played at least one game with five different MLB teams, pinch-hit for Will Wagner in the fifth inning. Facing left-hander Keegan Akin, Solak drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to the wall. He later lined out to right field at 103 mph and hit a soft infield single.
Solak, who will start Sunday when the Padres face left-hander Trevor Rogers, played first and second base, left field and right field in Triple-A this season. It seems possible he works in a platoon at DH with the left-handed-hitting Wagner.
“DH is always a good spot for a guy that can hit,” Stammen said of Solak, who was hitting .379 with a 1.069 OPS against lefties in Triple-A. “We’ll figure out a spot for him.”