Padres roster review: Adrián Morejón – San Diego Union-Tribune
ADRIÁN MOREJÓN
Position(s): Left-handed pitcher
Bats / Throws: Left / Right
2026 opening day age: 27
Height / Weight: 5-foot-11 / 224 pounds
How acquired: Signed as an international amateur free agent in July 2016 (Cuba)
Contract status: Will make $3.9 million in his final year of arbitration; will be a free agent after the season.
fWAR in 2025: 2.2
Key 2025 stats: 13-6, 2.08 ERA, 3 saves, 20 holds, 70 strikeouts, 17 walks, 0.90 WHIP, .186 opponent average, 73⅔ innings (75 games)
STAT TO NOTE
30.7 — The percentage of hard-hit balls allowed by Morejón in 2025, a career low and ranking in the top 1 percentile of the league. Morejón’s hard-hit rate has been on a steady decline since his rookie year, dropping from 50% in 2019 to 40% in 2021 to 38.7% in 2024 to last year’s rate. Similarly, last year’s average exit velocity (85.9 mph) ranked in the top 2 percentile, the expected slugging (.310) ranked in the top 5 percentile and opponents’ weighed on-base average (.208) ranked in the top 1 percentile.
TRENDING
Up — The top prize from the 2016-17 international class, Morejón through 2023 seemingly spent as much time on the injured list as he did contributing to the organization. In fact, he’d been on the injured list 13 times between the minors and majors dealing with various shoulder, back, elbow issues, including a Tommy John surgery, but he was healthy throughout 2024, posting a 2.83 ERA over 63⅔ innings out of the bullpen. Morejón was originally signed with the hope that he’d become a starting pitcher, but a healthy season in the bullpen led the organization to keep him in that role and he thrived even more in 2025, becoming a first-time All-Star and one of the better pitchers in the majors at suppressing damage (see stat to note). Consider him the bullpen’s Swiss Army knife. He pitched as early as the fourth inning once, appeared in every inning after that and was good for as long as two innings three times in the regular season. That kind of usage allowed him to pile up three more wins than any other reliever in the majors, finish in the top-31 in holds and pick up a handful of saves during off-days for Robert Suarez. Morejón went on to appear in all three NL Wild Card Series games, earning the win with 33 pitches over 2⅓ perfect innings in Game 2 and then throwing a scoreless inning in Game 3.
2026 OUTLOOK
A year away from free agency, Morejón appears content to continue to build his resume as one of the game’s best left-handed relievers. Look for first-year manager Craig Stammen to deploy him in a multitude of ways as part of the team’s victory formation.
Adrian Morejon #50 of the San Diego Padres pitches against the Chicago Cubs during the fifth inning during game two of the NL Wild Card Series at Wrigley Field on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
ROSTER RANKINGS
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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