Inside The Padres

Padres Give Up on Offseason Addition Ahead of Opening Day

Gabe Smallson|
Mar 30, 2014; San Diego, CA, USA; A general view of Petco Park during the national anthem on the opening day baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images
Mar 30, 2014; San Diego, CA, USA; A general view of Petco Park during the national anthem on the opening day baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images | Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

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San Diego Padres

The San Diego Padres have returned their Rule 5 Draft selection to the Baltimore Orioles.

Right-hander Juan Nunez has cleared waivers and reunited with Baltimore as he will be assigned to their minor league camp, per the Padres PR account on X.

More news: Former Padres Top 3 Prospect Doesn't Make Opening Day Roster, Putting SD Future in Jeopardy

The Rule 5 Draft is an interesting initiative set by MLB that gives minor leaguers more opportunities to see the diamond in the big leagues. It takes place annually at the Winter Meetings.

The eligibility requirements are for players that started at 18 or younger who haven't been added to the 40-man roster within five seasons — hence the name of the draft — or players who signed at 19 or older and haven't been protected within four seasons.

After a player is drafted, they are assigned directly to the team's active roster who drafted them. In a case like with Nuñez where the team that selected him want to waive that player, he must be offered back to the previous team.

More news: Padres Release 6 Players Ahead of Opening Day

Nuñez is a 24-year-old right-hander who has logged a mix of starts and relief appearances across his minor league tenure.

Last season, spent solely in High-A, Nuñez threw 29.1 innings with an ERA of 2.45. He added 38 punchouts to 10 walks and a 1.09 WHIP.

As he makes his way back to the Orioles' minor league track, he hopes to soon make his debut in MLB, even though it will not be in San Diego.

As for the Padres' roster, they are freshly out of spots as both their pitching and position player rosters were essentially finalized by manager Mike Shildt Monday evening.

More news: Padres Add Cy Young Winner, San Diego Legend to Organization

For more Padres news, head over to Padres on SI.

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Gabe Smallson
GABE SMALLSON

Gabe Smallson is a sportswriter based in Los Angeles. His focus is sports and entertainment content. Gabe has previously worked at DodgersNation and Newsweek. He graduated from San Francisco State University in 2020 and is a Masters Candidate at the University of Southern California. You can get in touch with Gabe by emailing gabe.smallson@lasportsreport.com. You can find him on X @gabesmallson

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