Padres Sign Ángel Sánchez To Minor League Deal

The Padres and right-hander Ángel Sánchez are in agreement on a minor league deal, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The righty will get an invitation to major league Spring Training.

Sánchez, 33, has a very small amount of major league experience, which came back in 2017 with the Pirates. He got into eight games but posted an ERA of 8.76 in that brief time. At the end of that season, he was released by the Bucs to sign with the Korea Baseball Organization’s SK Wyverns, now known as the SSG Landers.

His first season in Korea was a bit of a struggle, as he posted a 4.89 ERA over 26 starts and three relief appearances. The subsequent season was much better though, as he made 28 starts and got his ERA down to an excellent 2.62. He then went from Korea to Japan, joining the Yomiuri Giants for the 2020 season. Over that year and the 2021 campaign, he made 29 appearances with the Giants, tossing 160 2/3 innings with a 3.81 ERA.

It doesn’t appear as though Sánchez pitched anywhere in the summer of 2022, but he has been getting some action recently for the Gigantes del Cibao in the Dominican Winter League. He’s made four appearances for that club, posting a 1.29 ERA in seven innings.

It’s been over five years since his last major league appearance, with Sánchez putting various stamps on his passport since then. He’ll now head to camp with the Friars and try to earn his way back into the big leagues for the first time since 2017, having had good results in different leagues in the interim.