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Jose Espada Signs With NPB’s Yakult Swallows

By Anthony Franco | December 20, 2023 at 11:07pm CDT

Right-hander Jose Espada signed with the Yakult Swallows of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, he announced on X over the weekend. Espada had signed a minor league deal with the Padres in late November before being granted his release last week.

Espada, 27 in February, made his major league debut in the season’s final week. The Padres added him to the 40-man roster at the end of September. He pitched once, throwing a scoreless inning to punctuate a victory over the Cardinals. He struck out a pair while issuing two walks.

While he has only received that cup of coffee at the highest level, Espada has been in the professional ranks since 2015. He spent time in the Red Sox and Blue Jays organizations before joining the Padres out of independent ball in 2022. The Puerto Rico native had his strongest season this year. Working in a multi-inning capacity, he combined for a 2.81 ERA in 83 1/3 frames between Double-A and Triple-A. Espada fanned an excellent 32.3% of opponents in the minors, although he paired that with a notable 12.5% walk rate.

San Diego was impressed enough with his minor league performance they were prepared to keep him around as non-roster depth going into 2024. The NPB opportunity affords Espada a chance to lock in a salary that’s surely above what he’d have made if he’d spent much or all of next season at Triple-A El Paso. He’ll get a look in what is generally viewed as the world’s second-highest level of professional baseball.

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Nippon Professional Baseball San Diego Padres Transactions Jose Espada

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View Comments (5)
Post a Comment

5 Comments

  1. 99CaptainJudge99

    2 years ago

    I’m just assuming there is a relative of his managing somewhere?

    3
    Reply
  2. User 1855579867

    2 years ago

    “Espada” means sword in English, so would he be a “sword swallower?”

    2
    Reply
    • saavedra

      2 years ago

      José is not swallow…

      Reply
  3. niel.marshal

    2 years ago

    Any info about Cy Sneed, Dillon Peters and Elvin Rodriguez? Are they re-sign by the Yakult? Because these 3 SP actually do well for the Yakult.Dillon Peters start 18 games (6-5 record), pitch 100.2 innings and 3.22 ERA. Cy Sneed start 23 games (7-8 record), pitch 135 innings and 3.67 ERA. And Elvin Rodriguez start 7 games (1-5 record), pitch 33 innings and 4.09 ERA

    And their foreign hitters actually doing okay too. Jose Osuna play 134 games with
    .253/.308/.437 and 23 HR. Domingo Santana even better. He play 136 hakes with .300/.
    360/.484 and 18 HR

    Reply
  4. ImYourHuckleberry

    2 years ago

    I believe we’ll see him back beyond that cup of coffee if those walk numbers can tick below double digits in the next two years.

    2
    Reply

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