Padres Outright Tirso Ornelas
TODAY: Ornelas cleared waivers and was assigned to Triple-A after being outrighted off San Diego’s 40-man roster, according to the Padres’ official transaction page.
FEBRUARY 17: The Padres announced that outfield Tirso Ornelas has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding 40-man roster move for right-hander Griffin Canning, whose signing is now official.
Ornelas, 26 next month, has been on San Diego’s roster since July of 2024. He got to make a brief major league debut in 2025, putting up a .071/.188/.071 batting line in 16 plate appearances over seven games.
He has generally been a pretty good hitter in his minor league career. Over the past three years, he has stepped to the plate 1,471 times on the farm, mostly at the Triple-A level. His 11.3% walk rate and 17% strikeout rate in that span are both good numbers, with 48 home runs to boot. However, since that production came in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, his .285/.371/.452 line isn’t as impressive as it initially appears. That translates to a 108 wRC+, indicating he was 8% better than average for that league.
That’s still solid hitting but Ornelas really needs to crush to provide value. He has some center field experience but is mostly a corner guy who isn’t considered a strong defender, nor is he a burner on the basepaths. The Friars have Fernando Tatis Jr. and Ramón Laureano in their outfield corners with Jackson Merrill up the middle. The roster also features other guys who could factor into the outfield mix, such as Gavin Sheets, Nick Castellanos, Miguel Andujar, Sung Mun Song and Bryce Johnson.
The overall picture has pushed Ornelas off the roster and into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Friars could take five days to field trade interest. He still has one minor league option remaining, so he could appeal to a club looking for some extra outfield depth, especially one that needs another lefty bat. Despite his flaws, Baseball America recently ranked him the #28 prospect in the system.
If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would not have the right to elect free agency since he has less than three years of big league service time and does not have a previous career outright.
Photo courtesy of Chadd Cady, Imagn Images
Padres Place Jason Heyward On Injured List, Recall Tirso Ornelas
The Padres announced this afternoon that they’ve placed Jason Heyward on the 10-day injured list due to inflammation in his left knee. They’ve recalled outfielder Tirso Ornelas to the major league roster to replace Heyward. Ornelas’s first game will be his MLB debut, and his expected call-up was first reported by Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune earlier this afternoon.
Ornelas, 25, was signed by the Padres out of Tijuana, Mexico and made his pro debut in 2017. He’s slowly but surely climbed up the minor league ladder since then. After a brief call-up to Triple-A in 2022, he arrived at the level permanently in 2023 and has been playing there ever since with a strong career .291/.367/.462 slash line across 203 games for the club’s El Paso affiliate. Defensively, Ornelas has logged time in all three outfield spots and made occasional cameos at first base throughout his career, though he’s mostly been confined to the outfield corners.
The youngster’s big league debut comes during a rash of injuries for the Padres, who had already lost Jackson Merrill, Jake Cronenworth, and Brandon Lockridge to the injured list before Heyward joined them today. It’s been a major test of the club’s depth, particularly in center field where they’ve resorted to using Tyler Wade and Connor Joe at the position due to a lack of viable alternatives. Ornelas will be tasked with replacing Heyward in the lineup once he joins the club. The 35-year-old veteran has gotten off to a slow start this year, hitting just .190/.255/.286 in 17 games with the club even while being heavily platoon protected by San Diego.
Acee goes on to suggest that an expanded role for Oscar Gonzalez also can’t necessarily be ruled out, suggesting that a “silver lining” in Heyward’s absence has been an opportunity to get a better look at the 27-year-old. He’s done fairly well for himself in the early going this year, posting six hits in 18 plate appearances with strong batted ball data despite no extra-base hits in that microscopic sample size. Gonzalez actually hits better against right-handed hitters than lefties historically, so it’s at least plausible that Gonzalez could slip into something of a regular role with the club in left field while Ornelas is up if the youngster is tabbed to handle center field instead of left.
Of course, much of that will depend on how the club plans to use Ornelas now that he’s set to join the roster. It’s unclear if Ornelas will be in the mix for time in center field for the club; while he’s logged just 50 games at the position in the minors over the years, neither Wade nor Joe is particularly experienced at the position either. It’s also unclear if Ornelas will be in as strict of a platoon as Heyward has been while he’s with the club, though even if Gonzalez takes up an everyday job for the time being the presence of Joe (who has a career 105 wRC+ against left-handed hitters) makes a platoon a viable option for the Padres.
Padres Select Tirso Ornelas
The Padres have selected outfielder Tirso Ornelas to their 40-man roster, MLBTR has confirmed. The move was previously listed on the club’s transactions tracker at MLB.com. The Padres have had an open spot on their 40-man roster since Yu Darvish was placed on the restricted list earlier this month, so no corresponding move will be required at this time.
Ornelas, 24, was an international signing out of Mexico, with the Padres giving him a $1.5MM signing bonus back in 2016. He put up a strong showing in Rookie ball in 2017, hitting .276/.399/.408 and getting himself some attention from prospect evaluators.
Baseball America listed him as the #31 prospect in the club’s system going into 2018 and he was on that outlet’s top 30 list for three years after that. FanGraphs ranked him as the #116 prospect in all of baseball going into 2019, highlighting his natural abilities at the plate.
Ornelas had a dismal year in 2019, slashing .217/.303/.279 across Rookie ball and High-A. Going into 2020, Eric Longenhagen at FanGraphs mentioned some swing changes that had negative results, but he still gave Ornelas praise and ranked him 19th in the system.
More recently, Ornelas seems to have gotten things back on track. After the minors were canceled in 2020, Ornelas put up some passable numbers in 2021 and 2022. Last year, he had a great showing in Double-A, with 11 home runs in 72 games. He also walked at a 14.1% clip and was only struck out in 18.9% of his plate appearances. His .284/.381/.473 line at that level translated to a wRC+ of 126.
He also got into 55 Triple-A games last year with less success, as his .285/.358/.425 line at that level led to a 96 wRC+ in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. But he’s been far better at that level here in 2024, with 12 home runs through 74 contests, a 10.3% walk rate and 17.1% strikeout rate. His .316/.390/.515 batting line is 24% better than league average, per wRC+.
It hasn’t been a straight line but Ornelas has found a winding road to the majors since being signed by the Padres almost a decade ago. Just a few days back, Longenhagen and Travis Ice released their list of top Padres’ prospects for this year at FanGraphs with Ornelas in the #12 slot. The report suggests the Statcast data isn’t as impressive as the raw numbers with Ornelas, but still he’s still viewed as a viable big leaguer.
Ornelas has played a bit of center field and first base but has mostly been in the outfield corners in his career. The Padres have Fernando Tatis Jr. on the injured list due to a right femoral stress reaction. Per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune on X, Tatis has begun playing catch and swinging a bat but he still has some hurdles to clear before he can rejoin the club.
Without Tatis, the Friars have a corner outfield mix consisting of Jurickson Profar, David Peralta and Bryce Johnson. Profar is having a stunning career year at the age of 31 and is firmly implanted in left field. Peralta was just below league average at the plate over the 2021-23 period and is hitting .250/.313/.330 in 2024 for a wRC+ of 90. Johnson has mostly been in a bench role, with just one start since July 2.
Perhaps Ornelas can carve out some playing time in there during the final few months of 2024 or in the long term. Peralta and Profar are both impending free agents, so there’s lots of room next to Tatis and Jackson Merrill in the future outfield plans.