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?
Imai, is next Pods?
In the short time I have been reading the site I have noticed that if the writer Nick Deeds gives an opinion like he did about Fermin, it is invariably wrong.
Few if any catchers today are behind the plate 125 or more games and Fermin is no exception. Fermin was mentioned in a recent article on MLB as a breakout player for the Padres. He is far more than a part-time player.
I also don’t think the Padres traded 2 controllable starting pitchers for someone they think is best as a part time player. The team has to view him as more than that
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.
Almost all catchers are part-time. Only 1 started 130 games, realmuto at 132. Only 3 total started 120 or more. Even Raleigh only started 119 games at catcher. Fermin started 89 games behind the plate, which is more than average.
At his 2.5 bWAR average the past 2 seasons, Fermin all by himself would have made the Padres the 8th best catching team in baseball in 2025 if he had played the full season there. That is not a weak tandem regardless of who he is partnered with. If that person has a good bat, it will be one of the better tandems in baseball.
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.
Damn you guys take this stuff so personally
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?
Mr. Ringworm himself?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
His brother Mike had it much worse…
Mikes a Dick. He had it coming.
I’ll just slide his cousin. Mike Hawk into the conversation…
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.
Fermin has more HRs per AB and higher BA in MLB (about 1000 ABs) than Hunt has in his minors career (2000+ ABs). So why do you rate Hunt as more of a hit first/power bat?
Hunt was the 2nd catcher the Padres took in the 2nd round in 2017 and he was known as a glove-first catcher. He graded out at a 40 with the bat, 50 for arm, and 55 for defense.
The other one was the guy that had the best bat in AAA last year.
With Hunt back in the organization the Padres now have 3 guys from that 2017 2nd round on the team.
Seems like San Diego has really good catching depth. While none of their top 3 guys are stars, they are all solid options that could be starters if need be…and then there’s Salas who will be a star in the future. Good stuff behind the plate for the Friars!
I’m hoping they give Campusano a real shot in San Diego now. If not at Catcher, then DH. Maybe both.
Skip, I assume you are talking about Campusano as the best bat in AAA. Who is the 3rd player?
Poor guy
Martin Maldonado is sitting at home with 202 post season plate appearances.
And 302 pounds on the scale
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.
Off topic, but a truly more interesting one than a signing of a Padre minor leaguer: (Hey, it’s near New Years, and it’s dead out there in baseball land, give me a break. 😉)
Tatsuya Imai’s posting window ends in 2 days. Yet, no offers on this supposedly, “instant top of the rotation” pitcher. He’s a Boras client, and I’ve read that his asking price is between $100M and $125M. Yet, no offers. Not one. On Friday, he returns to Japan to pitch for Saitama Seibu Lions
Last year’s salary? $3M
How BAD does a MLB offer have to be, that it can’t top $3M a year, plus the experience of playing in the MLB in front of teams, willing to pay a TOR pitcher a whole lot more? Is the problem that Boras won’t compromise? Is Imai’s agent holding him back?
Just a very interesting story, that some investigative journalist should consider looking into. Before Friday, of course.
One more thing: Pride is a huge thing in Japan. How humiliating will it be for Imai to return to Japan, unsigned by any MLB team, not even ONE offer? I’d think that he’d be treated like rotten fruit in terms of endorsements, and so forth. There are 30 MLB teams. It seems like at least one would be willing to take a flyer on this guy, and I know of one GM known for making deals with creative, options laden contracts, for a team that needs starters.
“Supposedly TOR”
MLB teams are not sold on that.
Undersized & unproven is reality.
I get your point though. I’ve seen worse gambles on worse players. Someone will probably throw out a 2-3 year deal. Boras probably promised the moon, and Imai is most likely confused.
“Undersized & unproven is reality.”
Jake Peavy takes exception to that …. 😉
Comp’s still matter. Suppose he lowers his ask, and offers start coming in like Munetaka Murakami’s $36/3 year deal. Who also is available? Nick Martinez turned down a $12M qualifying offer, but is coming off a down year at age 35. Not sure what it would take to sign him, be he might be a “known” comp, versus a younger, flashier unknown from Japan, that a team might consider first.
Starting pitching is just such a premium. I mean, look at Cease and King’s contracts, versus their 2025 performances. They’re being paid like TOR pitchers on the hope that they realize that level of performance for 2026. I agree, someone will take a flyer on Imai, and the rumors are out there, but it’s late for him to sign.
I’m not sure Boras was the right choice for him. He’s demanding a big deal, and a lot of teams probably checked in and are not playing. I expect a flurry of last minute short term offers, but who knows ?
Just because he hasn’t signed doesn’t mean he hasn’t had any offers. You and we have no idea what kind of negotiations have gone on.
He himself has said that there have been no offers, and paraphrasing, “There’s a big difference between ‘interest’ and offers.”
I can’t post links on this site for some reason, but Imai has said in Japanese language interviews that he has had a lot of interest and several teams have made “appealing offers”.
魅力的なオファー is how it was phrased.
Yakyu Cosmopolitan, an English language site covering baseball in Japan has said that 16 teams went to Newport to meet with Boras regarding Imai.
I just made up my own facts about the offers he has seen thus far. Uhh … not really.
“Apparently, there actually aren’t many concrete options on the table yet,” Imai said on TV Asahi’s “Udo Times” program, according to a translated X post by @NekoSuke5_5_2. “And it seems that having teams show interest and receiving a formal offer are completely different things.”
nypost.com/2025/12/28/sports/japanese-star-tatsuya…
And this blog:
bleachernation.com/cubs/2025/12/29/is-tatsuya-imai…
He never said that he didn’t have offers. He said, and I quote from the translation;
“It seems that there aren’t really many specific candidates coming up unexpectedly, and having interest from a team and a formal offer are apparently completely different things, so in that situation, I’m thinking of trying to make the best choice, with family to consider as well, and make a good decision.”
That word UNEXPECTEDLY is the key.
Even in the article you link to it says, “It’s unclear what level of offers Imai has received.”
That means he has offers. That you spun that to mean that he doesn’t have any offers is not very logical.
If you read the entire transcript of the interview you find that he and Boras said that they had narrowed the process down to 3 or 4 teams before Imai came to the US and that he would go and visit those teams in person so he could make a decision which of those teams he was going to sign with.
That NY Post article also talks about his “emphatic stance against signing with the Dodgers” when that whole thing has already been debunked weeks ago.
According to Yakyu Cosmopolitan, Imai has had 16 teams make the trek to Boras’ offices in Newport to talk about signing him. Quite sure he has offers. Maybe not an offer that was enough to blow all the others out of the water so he would sign early.
Boras is smart to draw it out to the end so get his client as much money as possible.
He’s pretty, pretty Blake Hunt! He’s pretty, pretty Blake Hunt! (And we don’t care!)
Apparently, living in your head rent free?
I’ll wait for someone cultured to respond. Next!
1) Not all baseball Blakes are baked alike.
2) I hoped wholeheartedly, having only heard this player’s name on the radio, that his first name was Blay.
Welcome home, Hunt. Shouldn’t have any problem at all beating out Campusano for a spot on the roster
#FreeCampy
I actually want Campy to get another shot maybe not as catcher. He is a masher at el paso. We just need him to replicate some of that in the mlb. Schildt hated him. I am hoping Craig gives him a shot.
Campy has the best non-Schildt upside in the organization.
Stammen might have thrown to him as their paths crossed for 2-3 years.
Not about this move, of course, but I’m curious: Do Padres fans think the franchise has a decent chance of finally winning its first champuonship in 2026?
They are definitely a playoff team and once you are in it’s just about how hot you are and have injury luck (lack of injuries). Last year our best lefty hitter was Loreano and the team overall wasn’t good against lefties. He broke his hand a few weeks before the playoffs. Then the cubs used lefty after lefty against the padres and they struggled. If the team gets a little more balanced (getting a right handed 1B/DH), I think there is a chance. Just get in the dance.
Did Campusano ever get a plate appearance vs a lefty in the last playoffs?
Also, our hitting is going to change drastically in 2026; we switched hitting coaches. Our previous hitting coach victor rodriguez came in 2024.
For example:
In 2023, Tatis’ first year after the suspension and injuries had a 151 wRC+ against lefties. In 2024, when victor came, tatis had a 104 wRC+ against lefties. In 2025, tatis had a 104 wRC+ again against lefties.
There has been a drastic drop off against lefties with Victor not just for Tatis but the whole team.
Now we are switching coaches and probably going to sacrifice some contact for power. We sold out for contact the last few years having one of the best strike out rates but having bottom 3rd slugging rate. Their approach was to try to deal with Petco. But some of the park factor of petco is the dimensions that lead to less hits as well. They are (I hope) going to go for more power but still try to be a disciplined team that doesn’t strike out much.
I think that trying to tailor the offense for the ballpark doesn’t really work most of the time anyway.
I agree. Besides the extreme hitter stadiums like Yankees or fenway where they just go after a bunch of pull power to the direction of the short fence. Where average players will look like stars because fly outs are suddenly home runs
Padres need RH pull power. Petco plays well for that type of player.
I agree I am hoping for Okamoto
I would pick up Jhonkensy Noel. A right-handed bat that has crushed lefties…especially in 2024. A lot of power. And he’s pretty inexpensive.
He hit .162 last season. Why would you want him just for the short side of the platoon?
How many plate appearances?
Does it matter? There would be far less against LHP and you said that was the reasoning for trading for him.
He has 351 PA in his 2 seasons and has posted a.193 BA, .643 OPS, and 77 OPS+ coupled with a negative 0.4 WAR. Against LHP Noel has a .207 BA and .713 OPS, so he has not hit well against them either.
I was thinking of Campusano. Sorry for the mix-up. I do like Noel also just for his HR potential. And HRs are a good tool to have both for the regular season and the post-season.
The Dodgers have finished in the top 5 of all MLB teams in HRs hit during the regular season from every year starting with 2018 all the way through 2025.. They’ve also finished in 1st place in their division every one of those years (2018-2025) but one…2021 when they finished 1 game out of 1st place.
The Yankees have made the playoffs in every season from 2017-2025 but one…2023. In 2023 the Yankees finished ninth in team HRs. And the Yankees have finished in the top five of HRs hit (all of MLB) for each of the playoff teams but 2021 where they finished sixth in team HRs.
And I recall HRs being a killer against my Padres in the 2024 postseason when they went to San Diego to play games 4 and 5 against the Dodgers.. Home runs seem to matter for the last few years at least. Especially if you’re consistent at it.
Correction…
Game 5 was played in L.A….NOT S.D.
The Braves made the playoffs from 2020-2024 and finished in 1st place in the 2020-2023 seasons. In all five of these playoff seasons the Braves finished within the top five of team HRs hit in all of MLB…
Most boring offseason I can ever remember in my years of following baseball
This signing was made public (reported by mlb.com and other outlets) 14 days ago. Odd that MLBTR is just now reporting it as if it’s news.
dead slow holiday season, but writers gotta write.
Check my comments above about Tatsuya Imai. That’s current AND interesting. 😉
That Snell trade is definitely sealed as a Preller win. We got 2 of the players from the package we sent back for him free (patino and hunt). Snell got a Cy Young in one of the years, he was cost controlled, and we got a QO on him leaving.
The Sand Diego Padres. LOL!
I think Hunt would have been a better backup choice for Cal Raliegh than the Knizzer guy, they should have given him a chance. Maybe they’ll re-acquire him again
Why do I bother even reading an article if is written by Nick Deeds? He can’t even get the facts correct. Such a waste of time. Glad I don’t have to pay.