Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images
With the Padres’ roster reaching a more finalized state, the importance of ‘glue guys’ couldn’t be higher.

Enter Freddy Fermin, who was on the quieter side of another loud trade deadline for the Padres last season.

The former Royals catcher filled a much-needed gap in the Friar’s backstop depth, and came at the cost of two right-handed arms in Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek. While his .244 average and .617 OPS with San Diego aren’t the most dazzling numbers, Fermin’s defensive consistency and hustle brought a sense of stability to shaky ground behind the plate.

These types of players have been important to San Diego’s identity over the years. Alexi Amarista, Yangervis Solarte, and Kevin Kouzmanoff are among the lineage of Padres players whose likeness may not have reached super-stardom, but certainly reached the hearts of the faithful. These are the gritty players who pushed San Diego fans through years of less-than-competitive baseball, and remain pivotal as the team pushes closer to its pennant dreams.

Fermin was the team leader in batting average in the postseason last year. He produced 4 hits against the Cubs in the divisional series last year, two of which were for extra bases. The Padres catcher displayed composure and put together momentum-building at-bats in do-or-die games; he was the player that Kansas City fans were sad to see go.

 

Is Freddy ready to build a strong 2026 campaign?

How he builds on performances like that as he settles in for his first full year with the Padres is a storyline EVT will be following throughout the year. Fermin is under team control through 2029 and is working to be the mainstay catcher after spending the first part of his career playing backup to Salvador Perez. He’ll be working in front of a bounce-back-seeking Luis Campusano, and playtime will boil down to performance.

Approaching 31 years old this year, Fermin needs to play hungry and keep developing his chemistry with the core rotation. Nick Pivetta said that he would like to have Freddy be his “one guy” that he works with consistently this season in a recent statement to the media. While the pair did not get the win when they were looking for it in the NLDS, Pivetta shared confidence in his catcher, and the two will likely be looking to start 2026 in the win column on Opening Day.

Here are Freddy’s main points of improvement needed at the plate this year.

Squaring up the lefties (.212 BA against LHP last year)
Dialing in during the day (.220 BA vs. .275 BA day/night difference last year)
Settle in at Petco (.221 BA vs .279 BA home/away difference last year)

Padres catcher Freddy Fermin stands at the plate. Credit: AP Photo

He and the Padres’ new hitting coach, Steven Souza, will likely be hammering down on these cues and developing the situational hitting that was on display in the 2025 Postseason.

 

Why will he be your favorite Padre this season?

Freddy Fermin will be a fan-favorite this year, not because of incredibly flashy plays or insane pop at the plate. It will be because he is a day-in, day-out grinder, the archetype that adds to a legacy of Padres players brought up on Gaslamp barstools for decades to come.

For better or worse, this will be a career-defining year for Fermin. This being his first full year as a dedicated starter means higher expectations and pressure. With some tweaks to the approach and improvements to the problem areas mentioned before, he will transition from servicable to a true asset.

Is this the Ferminator’s year? Will Freddy Fermin be the glue-guy the Padres need? Will he be remembered fondly by Padres fans after Ohtani’s deferred payments are complete?

The answer to these questions will materialize in 2026, and as our nickname “the faithful” so aptly describes, we will hope for the best.

Nate Tubbs is a recent graduate of Journalism at San Diego State University. In his time at SDSU, he wrote and photographed several different sports for Aztec Link, the school’s NIL collective. He also co-hosted a weekly podcast featuring Aztec athletes, sharing their stories and goals for the season. Tubbs is passionate about photography, storytelling, and most of all, San Diego sports.

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