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Padres, Alfonso Rivas Agree To Minor League Contract

By Anthony Franco | January 12, 2023 at 10:06pm CDT

The Padres are signing first baseman Alfonso Rivas to a minor league deal, tweets Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune. The La Jolla native will get a non-roster invitation to MLB Spring Training with his hometown club.

Rivas, 26, hit free agency last week after being released by the Cubs. That ended a three-year tenure in the organization that began when Rivas was acquired from the A’s for Tony Kemp. He didn’t play in 2020 thanks to the canceled minor league season but spent the past two seasons at the upper levels. Rivas hit .284/.405/.411 in 58 games with Triple-A Iowa in 2021, earning his first big league call in the process. He made a strong impression, posting a .318/.388/.409 mark across 18 contests before suffering a season-ending injury to his right middle finger.

The left-handed hitter returned in 2022 and split the season between Chicago and Iowa. He again hit well against minor league arms, posting a .298/.368/.415 line over 26 games. His production at the MLB level was more middling. Over 287 plate appearances, Rivas put up a .235/.322/.307 mark. He connected on only three home runs and 10 extra-base hits overall.

To his credit, Rivas drew walks in a quality 10.1% of his trips to the dish. He paired that with an ugly 30.3% strikeout rate though. Combined with his lack of power, his overall offensive production checked in 17 percentage points below league average by measure of wRC+. That’s not the typical output expected from a player who’s limited to first base or the corner outfield. Rivas was credited by prospect evaluators as a potential plus gloveman at first base, and Defensive Runs Saved pegged him as six runs better than average over 674 1/3 innings at the position last year.

Even with a quality glove, Rivas will need to perform better at the plate than he did last season to hold a roster spot. He’s an accomplished, high-OBP minor league hitter, owner of a .289/.391/.411 line in parts of four seasons. That makes him an interesting upper level depth pickup. Rivas still has two option years remaining as well. If he cracks San Diego’s 40-man roster at any point, they can keep him at Triple-A El Paso for the next couple seasons.

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San Diego Padres Transactions Alfonso Rivas

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Post a Comment

17 Comments

  1. mils100

    2 years ago

    Rivas isnt a good major leaguer but real chance hits like .320 in El Paso.

    2
    Reply
  2. kgcubs

    2 years ago

    Aloha folks, I wish Rivas well. Maybe he’ll get chance to come up and play for them. Mahalo.

    3
    Reply
    • Giant Willy

      2 years ago

      Hauli?

      Reply
      • kgcubs

        2 years ago

        Aloha Fire, Hau’oli Makahiki Hou, Happy New Year! Mahalo!

        1
        Reply
  3. brownisback

    2 years ago

    La Jolla… that old money.

    Reply
    • CrikesAlready

      2 years ago

      …and lots of low-income housing…

      Reply
    • Harry Scout

      2 years ago

      He’s from Chula Vista not La Jolla

      Reply
  4. Giant Willy

    2 years ago

    The Padres. LOL!

    Reply
    • Comrade Tipsy McBlotto

      2 years ago

      The Giants. LOLer!

      1
      Reply
      • Giant Willy

        2 years ago

        How original

        Reply
        • Brew’88

          2 years ago

          LOL

          Reply
  5. This one belongs to the Reds

    2 years ago

    Not a smart move for him. Padres have no room on the roster so getting a big league job will be difficult, at least until Tatis does something stupid again.

    Reply
    • Herc33

      2 years ago

      Counter point to this would be that they don’t really have a true 1B. Cronenworth will start there, but if anyone else in the infield gets hurt, they might have to shuffle him and Kim around to cover the other IF spots.

      Matt Carpenter might mix in some in that case, and Dixon is in the picture too but if Rivas is hitting he’s possibly 1 infield injury away from a call up. It’s not the worst situation for him.

      1
      Reply
  6. dvmin98

    2 years ago

    Welcome home, Bro! Enjoy EP

    1
    Reply
  7. Harry Scout

    2 years ago

    Alfonso Rivas is from Chula Vista not La Jolla

    Reply
    • Brew88

      2 years ago

      Born in CV, but went to high school at La Jolla Country Day School (La Jolla, CA), family still lives there

      1
      Reply
  8. FriarsRoad

    2 years ago

    El Ponchin and his family is from Tijuana. Just following his son’s footsteps.

    Reply

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