Inside The Padres

Former Padres Infield Prospect is Carving Up Double-A — As a Pitcher for Mets

J.P. Hoornstra

University of Tampa's Anthony Nunez (9) and J.P. Gates (32) hug after winning the DII Baseball Men's College World Series at USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, NC in 2024.
University of Tampa's Anthony Nunez (9) and J.P. Gates (32) hug after winning the DII Baseball Men's College World Series at USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, NC in 2024. / Jeffrey Camarati-Imagn Images
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Anthony Nuñez's time with the San Diego Padres organization was brief and unmemorable.

Selected in the 29th round of the 2019 MLB Draft out of Miami Springs (Fl.) High School, Nuñez played 64 games in the minor leagues, topping out at Class-A. In six games with the Lake Elsinore Storm of the California League in 2020, the infielder hit .105, with more strikeouts (eight) than hits (two).

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In four years since his last game with the Storm, what happened next was far from ordinary.

Nuñez went back to college. He was granted eligibility to play baseball for Division II Tampa because, according to Baseball America's Matt Eddy, his time with the Padres organization was so short.

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"My mom remembered that someone who played with or against my brother had done it,” Nunez told MiLB.com in May. “We started looking into it, and there was a player in Division II who had recently done it. I reached out to Coach [Joe] Urso [at the University of Tampa] — I had played with his son — and he helped us get the information.”

Not only did Tampa win the D-II World Series, the Spartans helped Nuñez get back into pro ball — this time as a pitcher.

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The Mets signed him in June 2024 after seeing Nuñez pitch only 11.2 innings in college, striking out 20 batters with a 1.114 WHIP.

Since then, Nuñez has established himself as a bona fide prospect.

Nuñez struck out 24 batters and allowed only eight baserunners in 14.1 innings for their advanced Class-A affiliate. He was then promoted to Double-A, where he has 13 strikeouts through his first 8.2 innings in eight games.

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"He is an unbelievable mover, and his arm works,” Brett Campbell, the Florida area scout who signed Nunez, told Eddy about the first time he saw him pitch.

Eddy notes that Nuñez added a 90-mph cutter to complement his mid-80s slider and a fastball that touched 96.

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When the Padres drafted him, pitching was the farthest thing from Nuñez's mind. Now it's his ticket to the big leagues.

“I had pitched when I was 10 years old, maybe 11 … it was something that I wanted to do because I knew I had a good arm," Nuñez told MiLB.com's Justin Rocke. "It was tough to balance it at first, being able to know what my arm can handle … It was also tough to be able to stay ready, to be able to go, come into pitch. But overall, it was fun. I had a great time being able to learn different aspects of pitching while also trying to help my team as a hitter.”

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J.P. Hoornstra
J.P. HOORNSTRA

J.P. Hoornstra is an On SI Contributor. A veteran of 20 years of sports coverage for daily newspapers in California, J.P. covered MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Los Angeles Angels (occasionally of Anaheim) from 2012-23 for the Southern California News Group. His first book, The 50 Greatest Dodgers Games of All-Time, published in 2015. In 2016, he won an Associated Press Sports Editors award for breaking news coverage. He once recorded a keyboard solo on the same album as two of the original Doors.

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