The Padres agreed to a reliever JB Wendelken to a minor league contract, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The right-hander will be in Spring Training as a non-roster invitee.
Wendelken returns to professional football after two seasons in Japan. The 31-year-old has achieved excellent results in two years with the Yokohama DeNa BayStars. Wendelken had a 1.67 earned run average in 86 innings in Nippon Professional Baseball. He struck out 22.2% of batters against an 8.8% walk rate.
Before heading to Japan, Wendelken pitched in parts of six major league seasons. He spent most of his time with Athletics. Wendelken worked to a 3.62 ERA over five years in Oakland. He had a tough time after coming off the waiver wire with the Diamondbacks in August ’21. Wendelken allowed about five earned runs in nine through 47 2/3 frames at Arizona. The D-Backs removed him from the 40-man roster during the 2022 campaign.
The Padres have a handful of relievers locked up in the bullpen for opening day. Robert Suarez, Jason Adam again Jeremiah Estrada they all have tickets for the late roles. Yuki Matsui again Wandy Peralta it should be between innings, as the Padres may not be able to release their multi-year deals in a trade. Bryan Hoeing again Adrian Morejon they will be on the big league roster one way or another, although there is no question that they can win trades in Spring Training. That may leave one or two middle places to be taken between the likes of Sean Reynolds, Tom Cosgrove, Stephen Kolek and Wendelken.
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