Padres’ Ramón Laureano likely out for season after undergoing hip surgery

SAN DIEGO — San Diego Padres left fielder Ramón Laureano will likely miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right hip, manager Craig Stammen said Friday, revealing a significant blow to a struggling offense.

Laureano, a pending free agent, went on the injured list earlier this week after experiencing soreness that originally arose in 2021 when he hurt the same hip with the Oakland Athletics. Laureano, Stammen said, opted for a therapeutic injection five years ago and continued playing through the injury until he felt he no longer could.

“It’s a big loss,” Stammen said. “It was a guy we were counting on a lot coming into the season, and the guy that we had batting leadoff for a while. He’s been in a little bit of (an offensive) funk lately. Maybe that’s a reason for it, but unfortunate that he had to go have surgery and have it taken care of.”

Acquired from the Baltimore Orioles in July, Laureano sparked the Padres last summer, hitting nine home runs with an .812 OPS before he suffered a season-ending finger fracture. He started strong this year but fell into a weekslong slump. At the time he went on the injured list, Laureano, 31, had a .660 OPS and a career-high strikeout rate.

Stammen said Laureano did not inform the Padres that his hip was bothering him until last weekend. The outfielder subsequently saw the same specialist he visited after his 2021 injury.

“He had this in the past, and he performed well and hadn’t really said a ton about it,” Stammen said. “And then it just kind of popped up this year and recently. Sometimes things go quickly like that.”

The Padres this week promoted outfielders Jase Bowen and Samad Taylor from Triple A after designating Nick Castellanos for assignment. They officially released Castellanos on Friday, the expected outcome after the veteran supplied minus-0.8 fWAR in 39 games. The team has modest expectations for the newcomers; Bowen projects to become a fourth outfielder, and Taylor has been a light-hitting utility player in limited big-league time.

As a team, the Padres will enter Friday’s series opener against the New York Mets with the majors’ lowest average and OPS.