Can you feel it? The San Diego Padres’ season is right around the corner, and the excitement is palpable.
One sure sign of that is when teams reveal their non-roster invitations to spring training. The Padres did that by updating their website. All of these players are on minor-league contracts, so a bulk of them will be ticketed to start the season at Triple-A El Paso. But there might be a couple of players who earn a spot on the Opening Day roster. First baseman Gavin Sheets was one of those guys last year.
This year, there are 28 players who have formally been revealed as having non-roster invites. There is an additional one I included because of a recent announcement.
As a reminder, spring training opens next week in Peoria, Ariz., with pitchers and catchers due to report on Feb. 11 and position players shortly after on Feb. 15. The first Cactus League game is Feb. 20 against the Seattle Mariners, with whom the Friars share the Peoria Sports Complex.
Pitchers (13*)
Gonzales didn’t pitch in 2025 and only seven times in 2024 due to having left flexor tendon surgery in September 2024. Gonzales only pitched in 10 games in 2023 and had nerve decompression surgery. He will get $1.5 million if he makes the Padres’ roster. The soon-to-be 34-year-old is an interesting low-risk gamble, as JP Sears and Kyle Hart are the top lefty options in the rotation at the moment. He was pretty solid in 2021 and 2022 with the Seattle Mariners before the injuries hit.
If there is one pitcher to watch during spring training, it is McKenzie. Once a highly touted prospect in the Cleveland Guardians’ system, the 6-foot-5 right-hander appeared to be breaking through with a 2022 season in which he posted a 3.59 FIP (2.95 ERA) in 30 starts (31 games). Shoulder and elbow issues led to Tommy John surgery in 2023. He wasn’t sharp in his return in 2024 and was designated for assignment by the Guardians after a rough start to 2025. McKenzie took a lottery ticket from the Padres and is the top candidate not on the 40-man roster to claim a rotation spot. If not, he likely heads to Triple-A El Paso to be called upon when needed.
RH Riley Pint*
This is the asterisk inclusion as Pint was not included on the website, but that might be because that move is fairly fresh and could be a paperwork holdup. He would make 14 NRI pitchers. Pint is a very intriguing candidate for a bullpen role. The No. 4 overall pick in the 2016 draft by the Colorado Rockies has career minor-league walk and strikeout rates that will make you pull your hair out (7.8 walks per nine innings) and simultaneously make you drool (10.9 K’s). He is coming off a 2025 season in which he didn’t pitch in the minors for the Guardians due to an undisclosed injury, but hit Driveline this offseason and showed enough during a workout for teams (97.4 mph fastball, 95 mph sinker) to get a deal with the Padres. He is likely ticketed for Triple-A, but if he has turned the corner with his control, he would be a huge weapon out of the bullpen or even as a starter if he were to be stretched out.
LH Omar Cruz
Due to the lack of rotation depth, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Cruz stretched out to be a starter this spring. He made his MLB debut with the Padres in 2025 with two relief appearances, but does have 67 starts in 159 career minor-league games. That included 11 starts in 2025 at Triple-A El Paso. He has the strikeout potential with a career 10.4 K’s per nine in the minors. He appears to be an organization favorite as he was an international signee by the Friars in 2017, then brought back as a minor-league Rule 5 pick after the 2023 season. He re-signed on a minor-league deal this offseason.
RH Sean Boyle
The 29-year-old was a 25th-round draft choice by the New York Yankees in 2018 out of Dallas Baptist and has spent all that time in the minors in that organization. He has bounced between reliever and starter, with 71 of his 134 minor-league games as a starter. In 2025, he spent the entire season at Triple-A, with 23 starts and five relief appearances, compiling a 4.61 ERA in 134â…” innings. For his career, he has a 3.83 ERA with 2.5 walks and 9.2 strikeouts per nine innings.
The 25-year-old starter was a fifth-round draft choice by the Miami Marlins in 2019 and signed with the Friars in December. He is a SoCal native, born in Mission Viejo and attending Aliso Niguel High School. He plateaued with six starts at Triple-A in 2024, but has otherwise spent the last three seasons at Double-A. That included a swing role in 2025, where he made 33 appearances, including 10 starts, with a 3.92 ERA. Walks have been a slight issue for him as he has a career four walks per nine innings to go with 8.9 strikeouts per nine.
A 29th-round draft choice by Atlanta in 2019 out of Southern Illinois, the recently turned 28-year-old reliever has spent all six seasons in the minors, last year splitting time between Double-A and Triple-A in the Milwaukee Brewers’ organization. He posted a 0.64 ERA in 18 Triple-A games and has a career ERA of 3.04. Yeager was one of the three players the Brewers got in the three-way trade between Atlanta and the A’s in which the Crew netted William Contreras.
LH D.J. Snelten
A very under-the-radar candidate, the 6-foot-6 left-hander has four games of MLB experience — in 2018 with the San Francisco Giants. Since then, Snelten has seen action in five other organizations. There is no record of him playing in 2025, although he was with the Chicago White Sox until being released in mid-May. His path to the Padres has been filled with stops in independent ball, including Mexico, and was disrupted by Tommy John surgery in 2021. He reportedly was clocked in the triple-digits in Mexico.
Prospects
LH Jagger Haynes, MLB Pipeline’s No. 10 Padres prospect, was a fifth-round draft choice in 2020 as a 17-year-old from a small North Carolina high school. He has experienced a number of injuries, including having Tommy John surgery shortly after making his pro debut in 2021, then blister and shoulder issues after returning to begin 2023. But he has stayed in the rotation the last two years, first at High-A Fort Wayne, then at Double-A San Antonio. He has walked 5.4 batters per nine each of those seasons, while striking out 9.3 and 8.8 per nine, respectively.
RH Francis Pena, just turned 25, was a late international signing, joining the Padres just before turning 21 in 2022 for $10,000. He is the Friars’ No. 20 prospect who made 43 relief appearances in 2025 at Triple-A El Paso. He struggled with his control there, walking 5.8 per nine innings en route to a 5.68 ERA. He also struck out 8.1 per nine. He has a 3.85 ERA in 125 career minor-league games.
LH Jackson Wolf enters his age-27 season having been a fourth-round draft choice in 2021 out of West Virginia. He made his MLB debut with the Friars in July 2023 with a five-inning start and went back to the minors the next day. A week later, he was sent to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the deal that brought left-hander Rich Hill and first baseman Ji Man Choi to the Friars at the trade deadline. He came back to the Padres just after Opening Day 2024 in a 1-for-1 deal for minor-league shortstop Kervin Pichardo. In five minor-league seasons, Wolf has started 102 of 118 games, registering a 4.91 ERA with 3.6 walks and 9.5 strikeouts per nine.
LH Ryan Och was the Friars’ seventh-round draft pick in 2021 out of Southern Mississippi and is a 27-year-old reliever who spent all of 2025 at Double-A San Antonio. He appeared in 45 games with a 4.28 ERA, walking 4.8 and striking out 9.1 per nine innings.
RH Logan Gillaspie, who went undrafted out of Oxnard College in 2017 and played independent ball, enters his age-29 season having appeared in three MLB games with the Padres as a reliever in 2025 and nine more in 2024. He also made 28 relief appearances with the Baltimore Orioles in 2022 and 2023. He has a 4.75 FIP in those 40 games, walking 6% of batters faced while striking out 14.5%. In seven seasons in the minors, Gillaspie has made 29 starts among his 198 appearances, with a 4.61 ERA.
RH Manuel Castro is a 23-year-old reliever who joined the organization in the summer of 2021 and has made a steady climb, spending 2025 between Double-A San Antonio and Triple-A El Paso. He posted a 3.66 ERA at El Paso, with a .198 opponent batting average.
RH Ethan Routzahn enters his age-28 season having been an undrafted free agent out of St. John’s. He bounced between Double-A San Antonio and Triple-A El Paso in 2025, making a combined 46 relief appearances with a 4.50 ERA. He walked 4.5 batters and struck out 7.2 per nine.
Catchers (4)
This is the name that pops out due to all of the hype surrounding the player some have ranked as the Friars’ top prospect. Salas was the No. 1 prospect in the international class when he signed as a 16-year-old in January 2023. Born in Florida with family ties to Venezuela, he made his pro debut that year and made headlines by not only being a 16-year-old at Low-A Lake Elsinore, but then being promoted as a 17-year-old to High-A Fort Wayne and then Double-A San Antonio by the end of the season.
It was an aggressive approach by the Friars to their top prospect who is known for his tremendous defense. While the left-handed hitter had a good offensive showing at Lake Elsinore, posting a .267/.350/.487 slash line with nine homers and 35 RBIs in 48 games, he hasn’t been able to replicate that. He has a slash line of .221/.305/.347 for his three-year career, which included playing in just 10 games in 2025 with San Antonio due to a stress reaction in his back. As he enters his age-20 season, the Padres are likely to give Salas a full year of seasoning in the minors while banking on the chance of him making the Opening Day roster in 2027.
The Southern California native who was a Padres second-round pick in 2017 returned on a minor-league deal this offseason. Like others on this list, the former Mater Dei High School (Santa Ana) figures to be simply an option should the Friars need a catcher. The right-handed hitter was a backup at Triple-A with the Seattle Mariners in 2025, with a slash line of .272/.368/.452 with eight homers and 35 RBIs in 68 games. He was part of the Padres’ package shipped to the Tampa Bay Rays in the December 2020 Blake Snell trade.
Vilar is a 26-year-old who was drafted in the 15th round in 2021 by the Friars out of Miami (Fla.). The left-handed hitter spent all of 2025 at Double-A San Antonio, notching a .209/.316/.317 slash line with six homers and 32 RBIs in 100 games. In five seasons in the minors, Vilar has a .220/.346/.339 slash line with 22 homers and 125 RBIs.
Duran turns 28 on Feb. 19 and signed with the Padres last offseason. The right-handed hitter began his career as a 17-year-old after signing with the Philadelphia Phillies, then joined the New York Yankees’ system before 2023 as a free agent, then the Kansas City Royals before 2024. Duran appeared in 86 games with Triple-A El Paso in 2025, turning in a .288/.344/.503 slash line with 16 homers and 73 RBIs, so the offensive juice is there.
Infielders (7)
1B Nick Solak
Solak has the most MLB experience of the non-roster invitees, having played in 259 games, including 11 with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2025. Once a highly touted second baseman, the 31-year-old right-handed hitter has transitioned to be a first baseman who could probably play the outfield corners if needed. While good offensively, with a career .250/.325/.369 slash line in the majors with 21 homers and 93 RBIs, defense has been an issue, thus the move to a corner spot. The good news for Solak is the Friars could use a little extra offense from first base, especially from a right-handed hitter. In nine minor-league seasons, the 2016 second-round pick has a .295/.385/.458 slash line.
3B Jose Miranda
Another corner infield option, the 27-year-old was not brought back by the Minnesota Twins after having good showings in 2022 and 2024. The 2016 second-round selection had a poor start to 2025 and was relegated to Triple-A, where his struggles continued. That was surprising after a 2024 in which the right-handed hitter had a .284/.322/.441 slash line with nine homers and 49 RBIs, setting an MLB record with hits in 12 straight plate appearances. As a rookie in 2022, he put up a .268/.325/.426 showing with 15 homers and 66 RBIs. He would be another candidate to be a backup corner infielder and could improve his chances if he added some left field to the mix.
2B/SS/3B Samad Taylor
The most versatile of all the players on this list, Taylor has seen action at all three outfield spots as well as second base and third base in 38 MLB games, 31 of those coming with the Kansas City Royals in 2023. The Friars list the right-handed hitter as an infielder. He spent the last two years with the Seattle Mariners, also playing shortstop at Triple-A. Taylor put up a .296/.378/.461 slash line in Triple-A in 2025, with 17 homers and 86 RBIs as well as 44 steals in 54 tries. But he has just a .205/.272/.260 in his brief MLB experience, although he has eight steals. If he could put together a good spring, he would be the perfect bench addition for any team due to his positional versatility.
Prospects
1B Romeo Sanabria was the Friars’ 18th-round draft pick in 2022 out of a Florida junior college and is entering his age-24 season. He is the 21st-ranked prospect in the Padres’ system. After playing at three levels in 2024, including Double-A San Antonio, he spent all of 2025 at San Antonio and had a .257/.309/.376 slash line with 12 homers and 56 RBIs.
2B/3BÂ Marcos Castanon enters his age-27 season after being a 12th-round draft choice by the Friars in 2021 out of UC Santa Barbara. He also attended Wilmer Amina Carter High School in Rialto. The right-handed hitter was at Double-A San Antonio for much of 2025, although he did make his Triple-A San Antonio debut with 16 games. Between the two, he had a slash line of .273/.339/.442, hitting 15 homers with 75 RBIs.
2B/3B/SS/OF Clay Dungan was a ninth-round draft choice by the Kansas City Royals in 2019 out of Indiana State and is 29 years old. The Friars added the left-handed hitter through the minor-league Rule 5 draft before the 2024 season. He spent all of 2025 at Triple-A El Paso and put up a .273/.368/.448 slash line with 14 homers, 80 RBIs and 30 steals in 140 games.
2B/3B/SS Francisco Acuna enters his second season in the Friars’ system and just turned 26. He played 121 games in 2025, with 109 at Double-A San Antonio and the other 12 at Triple-A El Paso. Across the two stops, he had a slash line of .259/.359/.380 with 10 homers and 51 RBIs.
Outfielders (4)
OF/2B/3B Pablo Reyes
The 32-year-old has played in the majors in each of the last seven MLB seasons he was eligible. Reyes was suspended for 80 games before the 2020 season due to performance-enhancing drugs. The right-handed hitter has positional versatility. In 2025 with the New York Yankees, he played four positions in addition to being a DH in 24 games. He has an MLB career slash line of .245/.305/.342 with eight homers and 56 RBIs across 257 games and 606 plate appearances. He also had 14 steals in 20 tries.
OFÂ Jase Bowen
The 25-year-old was an 11th-round draft choice by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2019 draft out of an Ohio high school. The right-handed hitter is coming off a 2025 in which he put up a .272/.353/.449 slash line with nine homers, 37 RBIs and 20 steals at four levels, including his Triple-A debut. There he slashed .294/.386/.484 in 36 games with three homers, 17 RBIs and seven steals.
OFÂ Carlos Rodriguez
A 25-year-old, the left-handed hitter has split time between Double-A and Triple-A each of the last two seasons, first with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2024, then Atlanta in 2025. In 128 games at Triple-A last year, Rodriguez slashed .247/.317/.323 with eight homers, 32 RBIs and 17 steals.
OFÂ Nick Schnell
Entering his age-26 season, Schnell was a first-round pick (No. 32 overall) by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2018 out of an Indianapolis high school. The left-handed hitter reached Triple-A each of the last two seasons, first with the Rays then with the Washington Nationals, whom he signed with last offseason. Following a promotion from Double-A last year, Schnell turned in a .244/.322/.490 slash line with 21 homers, 68 RBIs and 12 steals.
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