Pitchers and catchers will report to the Padres’ spring training complex by Feb. 11 ahead of the first full-team workout on Feb. 15.
To get you prepped for spring training, we’re taking a deep dive into each corner of the organization’s roster.
Today, the Padres’ outfielders:
2025 recap
The Padres began the season with two-thirds of their outfield set as Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill looked to build off their 2024 campaigns.
Tatis had a .965 OPS through his first three seasons in the majors before losing the 2022 season to shoulder/wrist procedures and a season-ending steroid suspension that ate into the start of his 2023 season. He posted a .770 OPS over 141 games his first year back and pushed that number to .833 in 2024 despite losing more than two months to a quad injury. Tatis looked like he was all the way back to producing like an MVP when he paired a 1.011 OPS with eight homers through his first 29 games of the 2025 season, but he was hit on the wrist by a pitch in Pittsburgh, leading to an elongated downturn in which his OPS plummeted 222 points. While Tatis endured long power droughts that capped his OPS at .814, Tatis was still an All-Star for the third time in his career and won a second platinum glove, although three strikeouts in an 0-for-4 effort in a 3-1 loss in Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series soured all that.
Merrill signed a nine-year, $135 million extension in April only to make three trips to the injured list for a hamstring injury, concussion and ankle injury. Merrill was limited to 115 games and a .774 OPS; he finished strong in September and in the postseason, but Merrill’s absences only complicated matters for a team that was already trying paper over its shortcomings in left field.
Neither Jason Heyward nor Connor Joe proved to be the answers, and prospect Tirso Ornelas didn’t do much with his first call-up. Tyler Wade, Brandon Lockridge, Oscar Gonzalez and Bryce Johnson all got some run in left field before Gavin Sheets’ bat ultimately forced the former (and future) first baseman into the mix.
Then the Padres traded for Ramón Laureano, who had eight homers and a .956 OPS through his first 34 games after arriving from Baltimore. He cooled a bit down the stretch, but the broken finger he sustained during the final homestand proved to be a death blow for what became a lefty-heavy lineup in the NL Wild Card Series.
Ramon Laureano #5 of the San Diego Padres, wearing a splint on his finger, smiles in the dugout during their game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Petco Park on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Current picture
The Padres open the season with one of the better outfield trios in the game.
Only the Yankees’ primary outfielders (13.7) are projected for more WAR in 2026, according to Fangraphs.com, than the Padres (11.5).
All three Padres have something to prove, too: Tatis is trying regain the level of production he had before his steroid suspension, Merrill is trying to stay on the field as much as he did as a rookie, and the 31-year-old Laureano is trying to parlay a rebound 2025 season into a realistic payday in free agency after the season.
The Padres begin the year with their fourth outfielder all but locked in: The switch-hitting Johnson hit .342/.383/.434 over 84 plate appearances in his second tour with the team.
Ornelas, 25, has one more year of minor league options left and will provide organizational depth, while newcomer Sung-Mun Song will get a look in the outfield this spring to see if he can become a super utility player who can bounce between spots in the infield and outfield. Sheets is expected to get the first crack at first base, but he proved himself capable of holding down a corner spot in the outfield in a pinch.
The Padres signed Alex McCoy for $150,000 as an undrafted free agent in July 2024. (Artur Ivanov / Lake Elsinore Storm)
(Artur Ivanov / Lake Elsinore Storm)
On the farm
Recent drafts have begun to restock the outfield depth behind Ornelas, one of the prizes from the 2016-17 international signing class.
Ryan Wideman signed for $650,000 last summer as a third-rounder out of Western Kentucky as a power-speed prospect. He debuted at low Single-A Lake Elsinore (.601 OPS over 26 games) and will likely return there to start 2026.
Kavares Tears signed in 2024 earlier for $525,200 as a fourth-rounder out of Tennessee. He hit 13 homers in 107 games last year at Lake Elsinore.
The Padres have also hit on some undrafted free agents, with Braedon Karpathios, 22, reaching Double-A San Antonio last year (.720 OPS) and representing the Padres in the Arizona Fall League and the 6-foot-6, 260-pound Alex McCoy, 23, hitting six homers in in 53 games (.907 OPS) at Lake Elsinore, his first action at a full-season affiliate.