The Padres have signed catcher Blake Hunt to a minor league deal, as noted in the transactions tracker on Hunt’s MLB.com profile page. Hunt’s deal was first reported by MadFriars earlier this month.
Hunt, 27, was a second-round pick by the Padres back in 2017. He was a piece of the Blake Snell trade during the 2020-21 offseason and spent several years climbing up the Rays’ minor league system. Hunt hit quite well for the Rays’ Double- and Triple-A affiliates in 2023, slashing a combined .256/.331/.484 with 12 homers in 67 games, but ultimately was not added to the club’s 40-man roster during the 2023-24 offseason with minor league free agency looming. That led the Rays to deal Hunt to the Mariners, who did add him to their 40-man roster and were willing to give up minor league catcher Tatem Levins in order to do so.
After making the jump to Seattle, Hunt hit extremely well in the first month of the season at Triple-A with a .293/.372/.533 slash line in 24 games. That was a strong enough performance that the Orioles decided to take a chance on him and acquired him from Seattle in the deal that sent Mike Baumann to the Mariners in May 2024. He was called up to the majors in July of 2024 but did not make his big league debut before being designated for assignment by Baltimore. He remained with the Orioles through the end of the year in the minor leagues but hit just .179/.219/.278 across 42 games with the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Norfolk.
During the 2024-25 offseason, the Mariners re-acquired Hunt and stashed him at the minor league level as depth behind their big league duo of Cal Raleigh and Mitch Garver. Raleigh, of course, went on to have an MVP-caliber season in 2025 as he broke the single season record for home runs by a catcher. That left little room for Hunt to make it to the majors this past year, but his minor league slash line did manage to recover after a tough year in Baltimore. Across 62 games this year, Hunt slashed .272/.368/.452. That slash line is inflated due to the offensive environment in the Pacific Coast League, where Seattle’s Tacoma affiliate plays, but Hunt’s performance was still good for an above-average 108 wRC+.
After the 2025 campaign, Hunt became a minor league free agent and hit the market as an intriguing, bat-first depth option for a catching-needy club. He’s now found a home back with his first professional organization and figures to be the top depth option with Triple-A El Paso headed into 2026. The Padres have a fairly weak catching tandem as things stand, as Freddy Fermin profiles best as a part-time player while Luis Campusano figures to serve as the club’s backup at the moment after getting just 27 plate appearances at the big league level last year. That leaves a fairly open path for Hunt to force his way onto the MLB roster and perhaps make his big league debut after years of sitting on the cusp of doing so. If the Padres don’t make further additions behind the plate, it’s easy to imagine Hunt challenging Campusano for the job of backing up Fermin this spring with longtime top prospect Ethan Salas still likely to be years away from his own big league debut.
Lol Fermin put up a 2 and 3 war season the last two years in 300 AB’s and he profiles best as a part-time player?
How do you consider it weak catching tandem when Fermin has a 3.6 WAR per 162 games in the majors?
Because Fermin is just one man.
Get better writers . You can’t mention a catcher with a war of plus 3 and say he’s a crap part timer . This is just a ridiculous reading piece. Do you guys proof read this crap before posting it ?
I’ll cut the writer just a little slack and say Fermin does not have much experience being an everyday Catcher at the major league level.
It must be tough when your first name ends with a c/k sound and the last name is Hunt. Parents should’ve put more thought into it.
I’m sure he never got teased for his name
Especially, if he was homeschooled.
How many of the people who teased him for his name have touched AAA?
His brother Mike had it much worse…
Mikes a Dick. He had it coming.
Like when Mr. and Mrs. Pole named their son (a future major league pitcher) Richard.
Intriguing
I don’t know why people are saying Fermin is not a part-time catcher. His WAR is skewed because he’s great defensively. His OPS+ is subpar and he doesn’t walk enough or hit for power. Hunt seems to profile as the opposite, a hit first catcher. Split the time pretty evenly between someone like Fermin and someone like Hunt, and on paper, that’s a pretty decent tandem, though it sounds like it would be more 65/35 in favor of Fermin.
Poor guy
Martin Maldonado is sitting at home with 202 post season plate appearances.
Blake is a good AAA catcher – which SD doesn’t really have if Luis is backup and Ethan is AA, and they are familiar.
As much as he bounced around, I think the low spots could be a result of lack of consistent surroundings.
If Luis is traded or DFA, will he good to have Blake.