San Diego activated Griffin Canning on May 3 and sent him to the mound against the White Sox, giving the right-hander his 2026 and Padres debut in the series finale. In a corresponding move, Germán Márquez went on the 15-day injured list with right forearm nerve inflammation.
The switch gives the Padres an immediate look at the pitcher they brought in on a one-year, $2.5MM guarantee in February. Canning finished his rehab stint Tuesday with 68 pitches over five innings, and the club had been planning to activate him Sunday, according to Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Canning’s return comes after surgery last June to repair a ruptured left Achilles ended his 2025 season with the Mets. He was limited to 76 1/3 innings in that final year in New York, but the right-hander showed some sharpness in his latest work, cutting his home run rate to 0.93 HR/9 in 2025 after allowing 31 home runs in 171 2/3 innings with the Angels in 2024. He also posted a 50.9% groundball rate, a 21.3% strikeout rate and a 10.7% walk rate.
The Padres need the help. Michael King and Randy Vásquez had the first two rotation spots locked in, but Walker Buehler, Márquez and Matt Waldron were the rest of the group before the move, and the club had been weighing a six-man rotation. That conversation may linger because Lucas Giolito was still on an optional assignment and expected back later, giving San Diego some room to manage a stretch that includes 19 games in 20 days.
For Márquez, the move is the latest setback after Chicago tagged him for seven earned runs over five innings on Friday. For San Diego, Canning’s arrival is less a finish line than a test: whether the pitcher who survived last year’s injury and a long rehab can steady a rotation that has already shown cracks.
