Ramón Laureano – San Diego Union-Tribune

RAMÓN LAUREANO

Position(s): Outfield
Bats / Throws: Right / Right
2026 opening day age: 31
Height / Weight: 5-foot-10 / 203 pounds
How acquired: Via trade with the Baltimore Orioles in July 2025
Contract status: Will make $6.5 million in 2025 after the Padres exercised a team option; will be a free agent after the season.
fWAR in 2025: 3.0
Key 2025 stats: .281 AVG, .342 OBP, .512 SLG, 24 HRs, 76 RBIs, 72 runs, 35 walks, 119 strikeouts, 7 steals (132 games, 488 plate appearances)

STAT TO NOTE

.624 — Laureano’s slugging percentage against breaking pitches in 2025, the best he’d ever done against that pitch group and nearly double last year’s effort (.333). All told, told Laureano hit 10 home runs off breaking pitches — four off sliders, three off curveballs, two off sweepers and one off a knuckle curve — or as many as he had over the previous four years combined.

TRENDING

Up — The Astros’ 16th-round pick out of Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in 2014, Laureano was traded to the Athletics in 2017, debuted in 2018 and paired 24 homers with an .860 OPS over 123 games in the majors in 2019. The ensuing five seasons saw Laureano serve an 80-game steroid suspension, post a .709 OPS over five partial seasons and bounce from Oakland to Cleveland to Atlanta. Laureano was at least productive in a 67-game stint with the Braves in 2024 (10 HRs, .832 OPS), but he was still non-tendered after the season. He then signed a $4 million deal with the Orioles that included a team option for 2026. There, Laureano proceeded to turn back the clock to his second season, pairing an .884 OPS with 15 homers over 82 games. In fact, the only thing that slowed Laureano before the trade to San Diego — with 1B/OF Ryan O’Hearn for six 2024 draftees — was the some two weeks he lost to an ankle sprain. The move to a contender seemed to spur on Laureano, who hit seven homers and posted a .935 OPS in August to more than pull his weight. But he cooled in September (.646 OPS) and then fractured the index finger on his right hand on a hit-by-pitch on the last homestand, effectively ending his season just as the Padres were preparing to leave for Wrigley Field for the NL Wild Card Series. Without the right-handed-hitting Laureano to balance out a lefty-heavy bottom of the lineup, the Padres hit .189/.243/.305 in falling in three games to the Cubs.

2026 OUTLOOK

Laureano enters his walk year as the unquestioned starter in left field and looking to build off the second-best season of his career. He’ll also help spell Jackson Merrill in center field and maybe even Fernando Tatis Jr. in right on occasion.

Manny Machado #13 and Ramon Laureano #5 of the San Diego Padres celebrate after Laureano hit a walk-off single against the Boston Red Sox during the tenth inning at Petco Park on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
ROSTER RANKINGS

7. OF Ramón Laureano
8. SS Xander Bogaerts
9. LHP Adrián Morejón
10. RHP Jeremiah Estrada
11. RHP Jason Adam
12. 2B Jake Cronenworth
13. RHP Joe Musgrove
14. RHP Randy Vasquez
15. OF Gavin Sheets
16. LHP JP Sears
17. RHP Yu Darvish
18. RHP Bradgley Rodriguez
19. RHP David Morgan
20. C Freddy Fermin
21. LHP Wandy Peralta
22. C Luis Campusano
23. LHP Yuki Matsui
24. INF Sung-Mun Song
25. RHP Matt Waldron
26. OF Bryce Johnson
27. RHP Ron Marinaccio
28. RHP Bryan Hoeing
29. LHP Kyle Hart
30. RHP Jhony Brito
31. INF Will Wagner
32. OF Tirso Ornelas
33. RHP Garrett Hawkins
34. RHP Miguel Mendez
35. RHP Daison Acosta
36. RHP Ty Adcock
37. RHP Alek Jacob
38. INF Mason McCoy

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