The Padres have positioned outfielder Oscar Gonzalez on unconditional launch waivers as a way to enable him to pursue a chance in Japan’s Nippon Skilled Baseball, reviews Dennis Lin of The Athletic. With Gonzalez being granted his launch, San Diego is all the way down to 37 gamers on its 40-man roster.
Gonzalez, 27, signed a minor league take care of the Friars again in November. He’s appeared in 21 huge league video games and tallied 61 plate appearances whereas hitting .220/.246/.237. The Dominican-born slugger confirmed promise throughout his 2022 rookie marketing campaign with the Guardians, bursting onto the scene with a .296/.327/.461 batting line and 11 homers in 382 plate appearances, however he’s hit simply .216/.241/.293 in 241 MLB plate appearances since that point.
Gonzalez posted league-average offense with the Guards’ Triple-A membership in 2023 and was a slight bit higher than common within the Yankees’ system final yr, however he’s been on a blistering tear in El Paso this season. It’s solely 57 plate appearances, however the righty-swinging nook outfielder touts a .333/.368/.704 line with the Chihuahuas. The Pacific Coast League is notoriously hitter-friendly, however he’s nonetheless been 54% higher than common in that point and now touts a profession .285/.321/.502 output in 1212 Triple-A plate appearances unfold throughout elements of 5 seasons.
The Padres have had among the worst manufacturing in baseball out of left subject in 2025, hitting simply .190/.236/.268 as a complete from that place. The ensuing 44 wRC+ (indicating they’ve been 56% worse than common on the plate) ranks twenty eighth in MLB. The majority of Gonzalez’s plate appearances — 42 of the 61 — got here as a left fielder. He’s mixed with Jason Heyward, Brandon Lockridge, Tirso Ornelas, Gavin Sheets, Jose Iglesias and Connor Joe to compile that floundering left subject line on the plate.
Because it stands, left subject appears prone to be an space of focus for the Padres when the deadline rolls round. The 27-18 Padres, sitting only one sport behind the Dodgers within the NL West, appear like surefire patrons. The farm system doesn’t have a lot in the way in which of rapid assist to supply. Many of the outfielders in Triple-A are journeymen varieties who aren’t on the 40-man roster. Names like Tim Locastro, Forrest Wall, Mike Brosseau and Bryce Johnson have all logged time there with El Paso.
Twenty-six-year-old Yonathan Perlaza, a former Cubs farmhand who signed a minor league take care of the Padres after a pleasant efficiency within the KBO final yr, is hitting .293/.335/.463 — however that’s about 8% worse than common within the PCL’s supercharged offensive environment and he’s fanned in 28% of his plate appearances. It’s a dire state of affairs, so any of these Triple-A names might get a glance in some unspecified time in the future — significantly with three vacancies on the 40-man roster. On the whole, the Padres’ system is missing in affect outfielders after years of aggressive dealing on the commerce market.
