Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Image
The San Diego Padres look like they will head into 2026 with Freddy Fermin as their starting catcher. Is former highly-touted prospect Luis Campusano part of the picture?
Back in 2021, Luis Campusano was the third-best catching prospect in all of baseball and inside the top 50 of overall prospects. To paint the picture of how highly Campusano was regarded in scouting circles, he was ranked higher as a prospect than Corbin Carroll, Garrett Crochet, and Oneil Cruz. The former second-round pick in 2017 has certainly had a rocky path through professional baseball.
His minor league performances led to an initial meteoric rise. He won the California League batting title with a .325 average, .905 OPS, 15 home runs, and 81 RBI, earning MVP honors for the league. He participated in the 2021 MLB Futures Game.
Despite this hype, Campusano’s major league career through 2025 has been underwhelming, with a career .240 batting average, 17 home runs, 77 RBI, and a .666 OPS across bits and pieces of six seasons and limited playing time.
The problem is, Campusano has nothing else to prove in the minor leagues. He absolutely wrecks Triple-A pitching in the Pacific Coast League. Spending the majority of 2025 in Triple-A, he hit 25 homers, batted .336 with a 1.036 OPS in 475 plate appearances. He was named a Triple-A All-Star.
Yet, the gap between his success at Triple-A and his numbers in the big leagues is as vast as San Diego Harbor.
It’s not just with his hitting, however. A catcher is essentially the quarterback of the baseball team. Relationships with the pitching staff are imperative. Calling pitches throughout a baseball game is a vital part of a catcher’s job. Handling baserunners. Blocking balls in the dirt. Catcher is arguably the most important position in baseball.
Campusano has struggled significantly behind the plate. His -20 Defensive Runs Saved ranks second-worst among 94 qualified catchers between 2023 and 2024. In 670 innings caught in 2024, he ranked in the sixth percentile in Blocked Balls Above Average, ninth percentile in framing, and 38th percentile in pop time to second base.
To put it bluntly, he’s a defensive liability at catcher. And when you couple that with a 71 OPS+ and -1.1 WAR in his last 100 games, it’s fair to wonder where he fits with the San Diego Padres and if he should have a future in San Diego. Especially since he no longer has minor league options remaining. Meaning, he must make the major league roster in 2026 or be exposed to waivers (potentially claimed by another team) or traded.
Unless a major move is made, the Padres will have Freddy Fermin at catcher in the starting lineup for 2026. Overall, Fermin isn’t exactly Mike Piazza at the plate for a catcher either. In fact, Campusano’s 78 OPS+ in 2024 is identical to Fermin’s 2025 figure. However, the difference is, Fermin is leaps and bounds better defensively. His pop time to second base was one of the best in baseball last season, in the 88th percentile. His Blocked Balls Above Average ranked in the 72nd percentile, compared to Campusano being in the sixth. Fermin ranked second in all of baseball in Defensive Runs Saved for catchers.
Needless to say, Campusano has no shot to be the starting catcher in 2026, barring injury.
Because of his defensive struggles, the Padres began trying him out at first base in Triple-A last year, and he subbed into two games at the big league level at first base, playing a total of three innings.
The problem is, to this point, his offensive numbers don’t justify the team trying to move him out of position to fit him into the lineup. Among 417 batters who accumulated at least 300 plate appearances between 2024 and 2025, Campusano ranks 373rd in OPS and 367th in batting average.
Unless a trade is made, he likely will begin Spring Training next month as part of the roster initially. Will the Padres try harder to make him a first baseman? It seems like, unless a major overhaul occurred this offseason, he is no longer viewed as an option at catcher.
The fact that he never played an inning at catcher for the Padres in 2025 is very telling. They instead went with Martin Maldonado and Elias Diaz before trading for Fermin.
At this point, he hasn’t shown enough hitting prowess to justify being made a DH either.
This is a big spring for Campusano. If he doesn’t have a strong spring at the plate, coupled with showing either competence defensively at first base or showing massive improvement at catcher, it might be time to part ways with Campusano and fill out the roster with another catcher or two elsewhere.
Native of Escondido, CA. Lived in San Diego area for 20 years. Padres fan since childhood (mid-90s). I have been writing since 2014. I currently live near Seattle, WA and am married to a Seattle sports girl. I wore #19 on my high school baseball team for Tony Gwynn. I am a stats and sports history nerd. I attended BYU on the Idaho campus. I also love Star Wars.
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