The Padres are planning to activate right-hander Griffin Canning on Sunday, according to Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune. The righty will be making his 2026 and Padres debut in the series finale against the White Sox.
Canning joined the Padres in February on a one-year, $2.5MM guarantee. He underwent surgery last June to repair a ruptured left Achilles, which wiped out the remainder of his season with the Mets. Upon signing with San Diego, it was thought that Canning could be ready for Opening Day, though he ultimately required a rehab assignment at Triple-A. He made his final appearance in that assignment on Tuesday, reaching 68 pitches over five innings. Based on that progression, Canning might be on a pitch limit in his debut before assuming a full starter’s workload next time around.
Although the Achilles injury limited Canning to just 76 1/3 innings with the Mets last year, he showed some improvement over his career numbers. For one thing, he did a better job of keeping the ball in the yard. After surrendering 31 home runs in 171 2/3 innings with the Angels in 2024, or 1.63 per nine innings, Canning cut that to 0.93 HR/9 in 2025. He also showed a marked increase in groundball rate, hitting an above average 50.9% after sitting around average in 2023-24. It wasn’t all positive, as Canning’s 21.3% strikeout rate and 10.7% walk rate were both worse than average. Altogether, though, it was enough for the Padres to sign him to a major-league deal as a back-of-the-rotation arm.
Canning’s arrival could potentially lead to changes in the Padres’ rotation. Michael King and the emergent Randy Vásquez have the first two spots locked in, with Walker Buehler, Germán Márquez, and Matt Waldron rounding out the group. The latter three have not been good so far in 2026. While Buehler’s 5.40 ERA is nearly two runs higher than his 3.42 FIP, his lackluster performance in 2024-25 gives little hope for a turnaround. Márquez and Waldron are similarly ineffective options. Márquez is giving up more than two home runs per nine innings, and Waldron has an unsightly 9.88 ERA in three starts.
If the Padres wanted to stick with a traditional five-man rotation, a case could be made for any one of Buehler, Márquez, and Waldron to get cut based on their performance. However, reports from yesterday indicated that the club may consider a six-man rotation. In that scenario, the trio could hold onto their spots for one or two more turns until the recently-signed Lucas Giolito is brought up from his optional assignment.
Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images