{"id":481263,"date":"2026-02-21T05:07:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T05:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/481263\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T05:07:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T05:07:07","slug":"nl-west-notes-adam-matsui-hentges-rushing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/481263\/","title":{"rendered":"NL West Notes: Adam, Matsui, Hentges, Rushing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Padres reliever Jason Adam<\/a> underwent surgery to fix a ruptured left quad last September, and as of November<\/a>, Adam wasn\u2019t sure if he\u2019d be fully recovered in time for Opening Day.\u00a0 However, the early days of Spring Training have been promising for the right-hander. \u00a0Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune<\/a> writes that Adam pitched a live batting practice for the first time today, and Adam is making slow but steady progress in fielding drills.<\/p>\n

\u201cPitching-wise, we\u2019re\u2026beyond on pace.\u00a0 It\u2019s just a matter of being cleared\u201d by San Diego\u2019s medical staff, Adam said.\u00a0 In terms of Opening Day readiness, Adam said the team\u2019s trainers \u201chaven\u2019t told me \u2019no\u2019 yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of baseball\u2019s top relievers over the last four seasons, Adam has a 1.66 ERA over 92 innings since the Padres acquired the righty from the Rays at the 2024 trade deadline.\u00a0 While the Padres still have an elite bullpen even without Adam, getting the All-Star back and healthy as early as possible in 2026 will be a huge boost to San Diego\u2019s chances of both returning to the postseason and making a deeper run into October.<\/p>\n

More from around the NL West\u2026<\/p>\n

While things are looking positive for Adam, fellow Padres reliever Yuki Matsui<\/a> is day-to-day with groin tightness after his injury cut short a live BP session on Thursday.\u00a0 Manager Craig Stammen told Acee and other reporters that the groin issue doesn\u2019t appear to be serious enough to impact Matsui\u2019s readiness for Opening Day, but it may well prevent the reliever from playing for Japan in the World Baseball Classic.\u00a0 Since signing a five-year, $28MM deal with the Padres in the 2023-24 offseason, Matsui has a solid but unspectacular 3.86 ERA, 24.6% strikeout rate, and 11.3% walk rate across 126 relief innings.
\nSam Hentges<\/a> has thrown multiple 40-pitch bullpen sessions in the Giants\u2019 camp thus far, but he tells MLB.com\u2019s Maria Guardado<\/a> that he doesn\u2019t have a set throwing progression in place, and it isn\u2019t clear if he\u2019ll be part of San Francisco\u2019s Opening Day roster.\u00a0 The Giants signed the left-hander to a one-year, $1.4MM contract in December, even though Hentges hasn\u2019t pitched in the majors since July 2024 (or in the minors since August 2024).\u00a0 A shoulder surgery was responsible for most of that layoff, but Hentges also underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee this past September, which delayed his offseason prep and the final stages of his shoulder rehab.\u00a0 Hentges acknowledged that his long absence played a role in the Giants\u2019 decision to take it slowly with his spring work, though he is hoping to pitch in some games before Spring Training is over.
\nDalton Rushing<\/a>\u2019s short-lived turn as an outfielder could be over, as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic\u2019s Katie Woo<\/a> and other reporters that Rushing will be used this season as a backup catcher and occasional first baseman.\u00a0 Rushing played in 31 minor-league games as an outfielder in 2024, but was on the grass just twice with Triple-A Oklahoma City in 2025, and he didn\u2019t see any outfield work after making his MLB debut with Los Angeles.\u00a0 The former top prospect\u2019s positional future has been a question mark ever since L.A. signed Will Smith<\/a> to a ten-year extension in March 2024, locking Smith up as the Dodgers\u2019 catcher for the foreseeable future.\u00a0 Between Smith\u2019s extension, Shohei Ohtani<\/a> set as the DH, and Freddie Freeman<\/a> at first base, Rushing could be limited to part-time duty perhaps for the next two seasons, until Freeman\u2019s contract is up following the 2027 campaign.\u00a0 While there has been plenty of speculation that the Dodgers could swing a trade, the team seems to still have designs on Rushing (who turns 25 tomorrow) as a key piece of their roster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Padres reliever Jason Adam underwent surgery to fix a ruptured left quad last September, and as of November,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[22363,38902,363,162707,99,137019],"class_list":{"0":"post-481263","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-dalton-rushing","9":"tag-jason-adam","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sam-hentges","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-yuki-matsui"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}