San Diego Padres Prospect Gets First MLB Hit After 743 Games, 3,200 Minors Plate Appearances

It was a special night for Tirso Ornelas, from nearby Tijuana, who signed with the Padres in 2017 at age 17.

San Diego Padres left fielder Tirso Ornelas (21) singles to record his first career MLB hit during the fifth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Petco Park on April 25, 2025. | Chadd Cady-Imagn Images

Tirso Ornelas is the ultimate story in perseverance.

Signed by the San Diego Padres on March 31, 2017, just weeks after his 17th birthday, Ornelas finally got his first major league hit Friday night in the team’s 1-0 home loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Now 25, Ornelas toiled in the minor leagues for eight years, making his MLB debut on April 19. Prior to Friday, he had appeared in four games, going 0-for-6, since his call up from Triple-A El Paso.

But Friday, leading off the home half of the fifth inning, Ornelas got his long-awaited first hit with a line-drive single to center field off of Rays right-hander Shane Baz.

Ornelas is from the Mexican city of Tijuana, just about 40 minutes from Petco Park in San Diego. He got a big ovation from the crowd, which included excited friends and family members.

¡Tirso Ornelas conecta su primer hit en las Grandes Ligas! pic.twitter.com/mW01r42yhx

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 26, 2025

In all, that single was eight years, 743 minor league games and 3,200 plate appearances in the making, in which he has a career average of .267 with 65 homers and 386 RBIs.

Oh, plus those five major league games and 10 more plate appearances.

“It means so much, right,” Ornelas said through an interpreter, . “I’m playing in front of the Petco fans. And being that there are so many Mexican fans out here, my family is out here, to be able to do that in front of them, and doing it with the Padres as well – just because I’ve been in this organization for so long, and they’ve been able to give me that opportunity to be out there and play with them – it just means so much to me.”

He will get another chance on Saturday. Ornelas was in the lineup for the second game of the series, batting fifth and playing left field. He moved up from seventh in the San Diego order.

Ornelas is ranked as the No. 11 overall prospect in the Padres farm system by MLB Pipeline.

Related MiLB Stories

SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE BOUND: New York Yankees prospect Jorbit Vivas has played in 595 minor league games without a big league appearance. And that didn’t change after a recent call-up. CLICK HERE:

BACK TO SYRACUSE: The New York Mets sent their longtime minor league catcher to Triple-A after his taste of the majors. CLICK HERE:

DOING BIG THINGS: Los Angeles Dodgers prospect Hyesong Kim, a star in his native Korea, is making a name for himself stateside at Triple-A Oklahoma City. CLICK HERE