The Padres have signed right-hander Domingo Tapia to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He will presumably be invited to major league Spring Training.
Tapia, 31, had some major league success in 2021, split between the Mariners and Royals. Between those two clubs, he tossed 33 2/3 innings over 34 appearances, registering a 2.67 ERA. His 19.3% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate were both a bit worse than league average, but he got grounders at a solid 46.8% rate.
In 2022, he was claimed off waivers by the A’s and spent the season being shuttled between the majors and minors. His Triple-A and MLB results could hardly have been more different, as he had a 1.76 ERA with Las Vegas and a mark of 8.47 for Oakland. This was likely a symptom of his low-strikeout approach, as he allowed a .387 batting average on balls in the play in the majors but a .276 rate with the Aviators. He also stranded 72.2% of baserunners with Vegas but just 62.2% with the A’s.
The Padres will take a chance that Tapia’s fortunes will change in 2023 or perhaps he can simply take his fate into his own hands by finding a few more strikeouts. His fastball averaged 97.9 mph last year, which cracked the 95th percentile among qualified hurlers, despite just a 13.3% strikeout rate. If Tapia can earn his way onto San Diego’s roster, he still has one option year remaining, allowing him to provide the club with some roster flexibility. He could also be cheaply retained into the future given that he has yet to crack one year of MLB service time.
Wow!
You know if you spell wow backwards, it’s wow
The Pads have great SP prospects but few are at AA/AAA, they needed depth there
He looks so uncomfortable in his Baseball Reference pictures lmao
Lol he does look like he doesn’t know what to do with himself. I feel like he must’ve had a Ricky Bobby moment where he kept raising his hands as the camera took the picture.
Someone needs to reload the starting pistol & hope something other than “wow” comes out…
Holy Schnikes!!!
Wow!
He is a BP arm
Agree Henry. No chance he starts, or goes more than 2 innings tops. All effort and not pretty mechanics, tho liked him at Boston and pawtucket, was not happy they let him go few yrs back.
Slider is not very good, but FB hits 100 often and not afraid to throw inside. My 2c from watching is Minor and MLB games is he’s a throwback pitcher.
John – Tapia was the same with the Red Sox…he walked too many, did not strike out enough, and was only AAA depth/emergency up/down arm (mostly down in AAA), thank goodness! There is a place for a player like that, but it is truely ‘emergency depth’! If he pitches more than a handful of innings, than you know your team has MAJOR injury issues!
Closest comps I can think of- Trey Wingenter or maybe Reyes Moronta. Flamethrower with less-than-ideal accuracy.
Padre Scouts are Really Good at Seeing something in Minor League Older Players.
Get ready for some more reclamation projects from NPB/KBL. More updates soon…
*KBO
knucklecurve, spitter, screwball, slurve, breeze picks up, knuckleball
They’re just signing a bunch of guys and hope someone sticks.
If Nick Krall got off his lazy posterior, maybe he could have done the same.
Where were you when the Tapia hit the wall & stuck?
I believe these signings of players that are 30 plus who need a tweak here and there are in good hands with Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla! Niebla has the means to help these types of pictures to get the most out of them! Hopefully he can push a few of these arms through that can really help the Padres in the Long haul! He’s definitely got the stuff 100 mph fastball and has a high percentage of getting ground-outs! Good pickup for the Padres!
Pitchers
As minor league signings go, this is a pretty good one. He has that last year of options, which is critical for the Pads “AAA ferry”, as many of their regular bullpen arms are out of options. I’d compare this guy to a Nabil Crismatt, a guy who had some big moments last year filling in, in the bullpen, but also a guy that no one would expect to close, or lead the bullpen in a regular, healthy roster (no offense to Nabil – talented, and a good guy).
There are some minor league “options” signings that have me scratching my head, but again, this looks like a good move for the Pads. And yeah, maybe they’ll catch lightening in a bottle. They seem to do that every year, signing someone from Japan or the KBO, or a farm hand no one’s heard of, who comes up big during the season. They don’t need guys in AAA to carry the team. They just need reliable guys who can come up and give some quality innings when they need it. I expect to see more of such signings.
I like this guy and his stuff, hope he can make it up with the Pads.
Make $12.50 an hour working from home.”
The Padres. LOL!