Padres Luis Patino Agree To Minor League Deal.
The Padres have re-signed Luis Patiño to a minor league contract, as reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. Mad Friars first reported the agreement last month.
Patiño, 25, underwent Tommy John surgery in April and missed the entire ’24 season. San Diego kept him on the 60-day injured list during the season and opted not to tender him a contract in November. Patiño’s projected $800K arbitration salary was barely above the MLB minimum. San Diego didn’t want to keep him on the 40-man all winter, though, so they sent him to free agency. They succeeded in bringing him back without dedicating a roster spot.
The timing of the surgery means that Patiño is unlikely to be ready for game action until at least the halfway point next season. He’ll be able to build into shape at various minor league levels before presumably heading to Triple-A El Paso. The Colombian-born righty has a 5.12 ERA across 123 Triple-A frames. He has appeared in parts of four MLB seasons between the Padres, Rays and White Sox. Patiño carries a 5.02 ERA over 136 1/3 major league innings. He owns a 20.2% strikeout rate and has issued walks to 11.4% of opponents.
While Patiño has yet to find sustained success at either the major league or Triple-A level, he was once considered one of the sport’s most talented pitching prospects. He was arguably the headliner of the four-player package that San Diego sent to the Rays for Blake Snell. The Friars brought Patiño back via waivers last offseason. He is out of options, so if the Padres call him up once he gets healthy, they’d need to keep him in the majors or expose him to waivers.
