Surprise Pitcher Emerging as Candidate to Make Padres' Opening Day Roster

It's always good when your manager calls you out by name with praise.

Jul 30, 2024; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres relief pitcher Logan Gillaspie (71) celebrates after retiring the side during the eighth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: David Frerker-Imagn Images | David Frerker-Imagn Images

A new candidate is emerging to potentially make the San Diego Padres' Opening Day roster.

Right-handed pitcher Logan Gillaspie, who was nothing more than an afterthought to make the team's loaded bullpen entering spring training, has put himself on the map as a potential option with three weeks to go until Opening Day.

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Gillaspie has made two appearances this spring, pitching 3.2 shutout innings while allowing just one hit with six strikeouts. Manager Craig Stammen talked about Gillaspie, unprompted, when asked about the bullpen competition.

“When you have depth, that means you have a lot of options to choose from,” Stammen said. “We saw (Monday), Logan Gillaspie and how he threw in that game. He probably wasn’t on all your guys’ list to make the Opening Day roster, but we have a lot of guys like him that are capable of doing things like that and have major league experience, that are able to get outs in big league games.

"So we feel really good about our bullpen at the moment, even with a few injuries kind of cutting us down a little bit.”

With right-handed pitcher Bryan Hoeing set to open the season on the injured list, and left-hander Yuki Matsui in danger of doing the same, there are suddenly a few openings in the Padres bullpen.

Gillaspie is one of the players trying to impress enough to earn one of those final spots, and thus far, he's caught the attention of his manager.

Gillaspie, 28, joined the Padres as a waiver claim after the 2023 season. He had a 7.15 ERA across 11.1 innings in 2024, but was significantly better last season, sporting a 2.57 ERA across seven innings of work.

Who else is competing for the final spots in the Padres bullpen?

At this point, there are five locks for the Padres' Opening Day bullpen in Mason Miller, Jeremiah Estrada, Adrian Morejon, David Morgan and Wandy Peralta. Jason Adam will be there if he's healthy, leaving two spots and handful of players trying to win them.

Gillaspie, Bradley Rodriguez, Ty Adcock, Kyle Hart, Alek Jacob and Ron Marinaccio are among the pitchers competing for the final bullpen spots. Jacob and Marinaccio are trying to impress from afar, as they're currently competing with Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic.

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