The Padres have again shut down top pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza with mild soreness in his right elbow.

Forearm tightness forced Espinoza to take two weeks off before resuming a throwing program last week. This time, the 19-year-old right-hander is expected to rest quite a bit longer to allow the inflammation to subside.

An MRI has not revealed any red flags.

“This is a young man who throws very, very hard,” Padres farm director Sam Geaney said. “He hasn’t to this point had any extreme workloads, but I think when you generate as much velocity as he does, these kinds of things happen. Often times it can take six to eight weeks for something like this to resolve itself and get back to normal.”


Baseball America’s top-ranked prospect in the organization and No. 21 overall, Espinoza was up to 97 mph in his last appearance in spring training before reporting tightness in his forearm upon arriving in high Single-A Lake Elsinore to start the season.

His condition had improved enough to start a throwing program from flat ground on April 21. The Padres, however, have since moved Espinoza back to extended spring training in Peoria, Ariz., to better monitor his progress.

“I think we feel pretty confident in what it is,” Geaney said. “We’ve done some studies and imaging. I think we feel good about the path going forward. There’s nothing glaring, nothing that’s going to necessitate any drastic measures. I think we’ve just decided with how he was feeling that we’d go a little slower with him.”

Geaney added that this bout of inflammation is not related to the elbow ailment that briefly slowed Espinoza upon signing with the Red Sox as a 16-year-old out of Venezuela.


Acquired last summer in the Drew Pomeranz trade, Espinoza threw 58 1/3 innings in his first year in pro ball in 2015, 108 1/3 last year for two low Single-A teams and was ticketed for the California League to start his first full year in the Padres organization.

Espinoza is 6-13 with a 3.35 ERA, 165 strikeouts and a 1.23 WHIP in 166 2/3 innings as a pro. Opposing hitters have hit .248 against him.


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jeff.sanders@sduniontribune.com; Twitter: @sdutSanders