The San Diego Padres have lost seven of their last nine games, after falling 7-3 to the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday, to lose two of three games in that road series.
The Padres have now fallen out of the playoff picture, but they still only a half-game off the National League Wild Card pace. Starting Friday, they face the American League Wild Card-leading New York Yankees at home in what amounts to a must-win series with just 22 games remaining on the schedule.
Before the Yankees series the Padres made an announcement on the status of a 28-year-old right-handed pitcher.
Padres Triple-A reliever Ethan Routzahn hit the 7-day injured list Friday, the team announced via the official transaction ledger, a placement retroactive to Thursday that arrives with the El Paso Chihuahuas season nearly finished.
Neither the Chihuahuas nor the Padres have disclosed the nature of the injury, leaving a 28-year-old in his sixth professional season without a timetable for his return.
Padres Reliever Ethan Routzahn’s Injured List Move
El Paso placed the right-hander on the injured list Sept. 4 and backdated the move to Sept. 3. No corresponding roster move was needed in San Diego, because Routzahn has never been added to the 40-man roster.
The official listing reads “Injured 7-Day.” Nothing more specific than that.
This is his third trip. San Antonio shelved him in April 2022, a layoff that stretched three months and required rehab outings with the Arizona Complex League Padres and Fort Wayne before he was activated in July. He went back on the 7-day list Sept. 2, 2025, and did not return until Sept. 26.
Ethan Routzahn’s Road to the Padres and What’s Next
Ethan Robert Routzahn stands 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds. He was born in Park Ridge, Illinois, raised in Crystal Lake, and pitched at Prairie Ridge High School. Dallas Baptist came first, in 2017, without a single game. Northwest Florida State College followed in 2018. St. John’s got him for three years after that.
The last of those years turned him into a professional. Routzahn went 2-1 with a 1.19 ERA and a team-leading six saves in 2021, fanned 30 hitters in 22 2/3 innings and limited Big East opponents to .143, earning Second Team All-Big East recognition. The Padres signed him as a free agent that July. He had spent that spring in the MLB Draft League with the Trenton Thunder.
Routzahn is absent from the top 30 Padres prospects published in July by Prospects Live, a ranking fronted by catcher Ethan Salas. His highest documented placement anywhere dates to high school, where Perfect Game assigned him a grade of 8 and ranked him No. 41 among Illinois seniors in the 2016 class.
He pitches off a sinker. The pitch averages roughly 91 mph and makes up close to 57 percent of his 2026 offerings, backed by a sweeper in the mid-70s and a cutter he mixes in sparingly, according to TJStats. Late innings have been his purview since college.
Routzahn converted seven saves for the Chihuahuas this season and also walked 45 hitters over 66 innings, a 14.6 percent walk rate set against a 15.5 percent strikeout rate, according to FanGraphs. His 6.27 ERA and 1.71 WHIP are the worst full-season marks of his career. In 2024 he was 9-3 with a 2.19 ERA and seven saves across three levels. Across six minor league seasons, MiLB.com credits him with a 20-16 record, a 4.28 ERA, 20 saves and 260 strikeouts in 296 2/3 innings over 216 appearances.
San Diego brought him to spring training in February as a non-roster invitee and returned him to minor league camp. Promoting him now would cost a 40-man spot the Padres have already spent elsewhere this September, and a 7-day absence closes what little runway remained in 2026.
Padres Announce Decision on 6-Foot-4, 225-Pound Reliever Before Yankees Series