The Padres are in agreement with Jared Koenig on a minor league contract, as first announced on Twitter by Matthew Rossignol. The left-hander seems likely to head to Triple-A El Paso to open the season.
Koenig, an undrafted player in 2017, spent a couple years in independent ball to open his professional career. He eventually landed a minor league deal with the A’s heading into 2021. Koenig pitched well for their Double-A affiliate that season and got a bump to Triple-A Las Vegas to open last year. He went on to throw 107 innings of 4.71 ERA ball — deceptively solid production considering the Pacific Coast League’s extreme hitter-friendly nature — over 20 Triple-A outings.
That upper minors production earned Koenig a major league call last June. He’d make ten appearances (five starts) in green and gold, allowing a 5.72 ERA in 39 1/3 innings. He only struck out 12.4% of opponents on a minuscule 6.4% swinging strike percentage. Yet he induced grounders at a strong 48.5% clip and kept his walk rate to a manageable 8.5% mark.
Oakland non-tendered Koenig at the start of the offseason, sending him directly to free agency without first going through waivers. The 29-year-old now joins the second affiliated organization of his career. Koenig adds a strike-throwing rotation depth arm to the San Diego system. He doesn’t brandish a power arsenal, averaging only 89.2 MPH on his sinker and 77.6 MPH on a curveball during his major league look. Koenig found success in spite of the lack of velocity in the upper minors, mixing five pitches and throwing a decent number of strikes.
San Diego looks set to open the season with a six-man rotation of Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, Blake Snell, Michael Wacha, Nick Martinez and Seth Lugo. Depth options on the 40-man roster include Jay Groome, Brent Honeywell Jr., Adrián Morejón, Reiss Knehr and Ryan Weathers. Koenig will slot in behind that group. He joins Julio Teheran, Cole Hamels, Wilmer Font and Aaron Brooks among non-roster rotation options who have some big league experience.
Koenig gets his cup of coffee.
Maybe he’ll become a star, buckaroo…
[That was LAME, sorry]
Kuerig and Koenig! Maybe my humor is not your cup of tea.
He just has to get through the daily grind. The Padres might have something brewing here. There is a good blend of talent. The cream will rise to the top.
I can see him being a solid reliever with better defense behind him. FIP was good for a while.
So he appeared in nine games and started 5 of them and Finished 4 of them?
Thats nuts
Friars Scouting Dept sometimes finds a Hidden Gem. They have Great Track record.
No they don’t. Name a player. You’re thinking of the Dodgers.
Brad hand, Kirby Yates, Robert Suarez, Tatis, Cronenworth, Ha Seong Kim were nobodies when acquired and turned into impact players at their respective positions. Joe Musgrove has turned into an ace after a repertoire tweak which the front office had identified. Before he was putting up back-end numbers.
Agreed with all of the above names except Kim. He was the biggest international free agent that off-season and had put up incredible numbers in the KBO. Not saying they don’t deserve credit for signing him and helping him adjust to the MLB, just that he wasn’t exactly a nobody.
Trea Turner. Oh, wait…
Padres style – trade Trea for Wil Myers, then over Trea 300 million
Wil Myers
Brad Hand, Suarez, Nick Martinez etc
For the life of me, I don’t understand Blake Snell’s appeal to the Padres,
Um It’s called a legit number 3 starter
He’s better than most clubs #3 starter and he’s got a CY Young w/Post Season experience.
He can get you a solid 4 2/3 on 110 pitches. What’s not to like?
3.3 ERA last year, led MLB starters in K/9
For the most part, Blake Snell has performed pretty well. He’s gone in 2024 anyhow, probably to his hometown Mariners.
No one else
2nd coming of Eric Stults?
I thought his name was familiar. It turns out, I was thinking of Jared Hoying. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hoyinja01.shtml
Still don’t know why the Braves gave up on Julio Teheran. He’s not an ace but was a solid pitcher and could have been a good number 3 or 4 starter
He declined? The Padres picked him up on a no-risk minor league deal. Only way he makes back to bigs is if he pitches well.
Rad story.. hope he makes it