ARLINGTON, Texas — The Padres got their closer back and used the occasion to put a plan into action.

Mason Miller was activated off the Bereavement/Family Medical Leave List on Friday, and room was made for him on the roster by optioning Bradgley Rodriguez.

But Rodriguez is not being sent down to pitch. The rookie right-hander was optioned to the Arizona Complex League for the primary purpose of not pitching.

“It’s something that we talked about as an organization,” manager Craig Stammen said. “Some of our younger relievers, it’s going to be their first full season in the big leagues. We wanted to be able to take care of them in the right way. We knew going into this year we were going to use our pen a lot. We feel very comfortable using our pen a lot. We’ve got a lot of good arms down there. It’s the strength of our team, and we’ve got to find creative ways to keep these guys healthy so that they’re at their peak at the end of the season.”

The 22-year-old Rodriguez, who has had some arm issues in the past, has posted a 2.10 ERA while throwing 34⅓ innings in 29 appearances in his first full big-league season.

He finished 2025 by working six innings in six appearances in September after making his MLB on May 31. In between, he threw just 36⅔ innings between Double-A and Triple-A.

The Padres sent David Morgan, who is in his second major league season, to Triple-A at the end of April to work on some mechanical tweaks but also for the purpose of getting some downtime. A reliever’s schedule is more structured in the minor leagues, and the results are not the end-all.

Rodriguez going down means left-hander Kyle Hart remained on the roster after throwing 3⅔ scoreless innings in St. Louis following his callup to take Miller’s spot on the roster.

Miller was attending to a family matter that he has asked remain private.

The Padres did not have a save situation arise in their three games without him. Adrian Morejón closed out Wednesday’s 6-1 victory over the Cardinals, but that turned out not to be a save situation after the Padres scored three runs in the top of the ninth.