A bad year for Padres catchers just got a little worse, as Josh Bard was placed on the 15-day disabled list Saturday with a strained right triceps.

Bard suffered the injury on the last swing of the last round of early batting practice prior to Friday’s game against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.

Bard, who suffered a similar injury when he was in the Minor Leagues in 1999, said the pain in his elbow was enough to keep him from throwing, and that he will likely need 5 to 7 days before he will play again.

The San Diego Padres recalled rookie Luke Carlin from Triple-A Portland to take his place. Carlin was in uniform for Saturday’s game, because the Beavers happened to be playing in Colorado Springs this weekend.

Bard will be eligible to come off the disabled list on Aug. 22, when the Padres play the Giants. To date, Bard has missed 55 games because of injury, 54 of were due to a high ankle sprain suffered on May 22.

“It’s hard, I’ve never experienced anything like this,” Bard said.

Michael Barrett, the other catcher on the Opening Day roster, has missed 70 games with first a sprained ligament in his right elbow, and most recently, a fractured nose and orbital bone that occurred, oddly enough, on July 3, when the team was in Denver.

“Two veteran catchers at a premium position,” Padres manager Bud Black said.

All told, Padres catchers have missed 145 games this season. The total number of missed games for the team this season is 842, up from 280 a year ago.

Bard had appeared in just six games since coming off the disabled list on July 24 and was hitting .209 this season.

“It’s been really, really hard this year to play this bad as a team, but it’s been really, really hard not to be able to help,” Bard said.

Carlin is no stranger to the Padres. He made his Major League debut on May 10 and has appeared in 30 games and started 23 behind the plate. Offensively, Carlin is hitting .138 in 80 at-bats after hitting .328 with Portland.

Rookie catcher Nick Hundley figured to get an extended look between now and the end of the season, regardless of Bard’s injury. Hundley is hitting .221 thus far and has been impressive behind the plate, throwing out 7 of 22 would-be base stealers.

On Friday, Hundley threw out Colorado’s speedy lead-off hitter, Willy Taveras, in the first inning, and appeared to get him again later in the game, though Taveras was ruled safe. Carlin’s times on the throws were 1.83 and 1.87, below the 1.9 mark the Padres want to see from their catchers.

Corey Brock is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.