Padres Make First Major Roster Move of Spring Training

The San Diego Padres announced their first round of roster moves Thursday reassigning 11 players to minor league camp.

The announcement includes top prospects Ethan Salas and Leo De Vries.

In addition to the catcher and infielder, San Diego also reassigned left-handed pitchers Austin Krob, Ryan Och, and J.B. Wendelken, right-handed pitchers José Espada, Braden Nett, and Francis Pena, catchers Brandon Valenzuela and Anthony Vilar, and infielder Romeo Sanabria.

We have re-assigned the following players to minor league camp:

LHPs Austin Krob, Ryan Och and J.B. Wendelken, RHPs José Espada, Braden Nett and Francis Pena, Cs Brandon Valenzuela, Ethan Salas and Anthony Vilar, and INFs Leo De Vries and Romeo Sanabria.

There are now 61…
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) March 6, 2025

Niether Salas nor De Vries are ready for the big leagues. At just 18 years old, they soaked up what they could from their limited time in major league camp and earned high praise from manager Mike Shildt.

“The future’s bright,” Shildt said. “I talked to [president of baseball operations] A.J. [Preller], when we got through at the end of the conversation – we did Salas and we did Leo after the game – me and A.J. were talking about both of them. I said, ‘Both those guys are going to make us look a lot smarter.’

“Good, long-standing big league players start their careers pretty early, and these guys are on a good trajectory for that.”

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Krob, a 12th-round pick in 2022, impressed in his first full season with a 2.72 ERA across two A-ball levels. However, he struggled to replicate that success in 2023, posting a 4.43 ERA with 120 strikeouts and a .273 opponent batting average over 124 innings at Double-A San Antonio.

Och, a seventh-round pick out of Southern Miss, reached Double-A last season, where he was part of a combined no-hitter against Amarillo. Throughout his three seasons in the organization, Och has logged a 3.61 ERA across 97.1 innings.

After two seasons in Japan, Wendelken is back in affiliated baseball. The 31-year-old performed strongly with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars, posting a 1.67 ERA over 86 innings in Nippon Professional Baseball.

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Espada appeared in one game for the Padres in 2023 before heading to Japan for the 2024 season with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. While he finished the NPB season with an 0-2 record, he posted a 2.69 ERA across 60.1 innings and converted eight of nine save chances.

Nett, 22, spent most of last season in Single-A but was impressive in his Cactus League start against the Seattle Mariners. He threw 25 strikes among his 37 pitches.

Pena, 23, climbed from High-A to Triple-A last season, where he had a few rough outings in 15 appearances, pushing his ERA to 5.17. However, outside of those three games, he allowed just two runs over 13 innings in his other 12 outings with El Paso.

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Valenzuela, 24, hit .232/.312/.352 with nine homers and 47 RBIs in 111 games between Double-A San Antonio and Triple-A El Paso last season.

Vilar, 25, was the Fort Wayne Tin Caps Player of the Year last season slashing .257/.378/.390 before moving up to Double-A.

Sanabria, 22, is a left-handed-hitting first baseman and the Padres’ No. 24 prospect. He emerged as the team’s top performer in the Arizona Fall League, going 16-for-58 with four doubles, eight walks, 14 runs scored, and four RBIs. He posted a .407 on-base percentage, a .345 slugging percentage, and a .752 OPS.

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