The Padres have signed first baseman Trenton Brooks to a minor league contract, according to MLB.com’s transaction tracker. He will most likely also be invited to major league spring training.
Brooks, 29, has a lengthy minor-league track record that demonstrates his great plate discipline. Over the last four years, he has made 1,691 plate appearances on the farm with a 13.8% walk rate and a 16.4% strikeout rate, both of which are much higher than average. However, he only hit 55 home runs during that time, which is a relatively low total for a first baseman. Nonetheless, that resulted in a combined.279/.383/.470 batting line and 119 wRC+ over that period.
He was eventually able to turn it into a major league debut in 2024, however he only received a few opportunities with the Giants. He was on the 40-man roster for less than a month, appearing in 12 games and batting just.120/.241/.120 in 29 plate appearances. He was placed on waivers unclaimed and finally released from the squad, opting for free agency at the end of the season.
The Padres have Luis Arráez and Jake Cronenworth as first-base alternatives, but Cronenworth may play second base if Xander Bogaerts returns to shortstop with Ha-Seong Kim now a free agent. The club does not currently have a clear designated hitter, therefore there is place for another bat in the lineup. Arráez is also a speculative trade candidate because he is approaching his final year of club control, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz forecasting a $14.6MM payroll next season, a significant price for a club with recognized budgetary constraints.
Brooks can provide the club with some upper-level depth at the position and attempt to make his way back to the majors. If he is successful this time, he will still have a complete slate of alternatives and only a few service days. That implies he can be retained inexpensively in the future, which would be enticing to any club, but perhaps especially the Friars, who have just had to reduce their payroll.
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