Brandon Valenzuela #59

Brandon Ivar Valenzuela...Signed by the Padres as an international free agent out of Mexico... Has played for the Naranjeros de Hermosillo of the Mexican Pacific Winter League in his hometown during the 2020 offseason and the 2024 offseason...In 30 combined contests, slashed .265/.417/.386 with seven doubles, a home run,10 RBI and an .802 OPS, while throwing out 11 runners behind the plate (41% CS)... Ended the 2024 season ranked as the Padres 12th-best prospect according to MLB.com.

2025

Invited to MLB Spring Training for the first time in his career...Recorded a pair of hits in two games...Assigned to Double-A San Antonio to begin the campaign...In 87 contests, slashed .229/.313/.387 with 14 doubles, a triple, 12 home runs, 46 RBI, a 10.7% walk rate, a 22.2% strikeout rate and a .700 OPS...Dealt to the Blue Jays at the trade deadline and assigned to Triple-A Buffalo...At the time of the trade, the catcher had thrown out 25 attempted base stealers at the Double-A level, while his 34.7% caught stealing percentage ranks second among Double-A catchers (min. 50 games caught)...In 26 games with Triple-A Buffalo, slashed .207/.295/.370 with six doubles, three home runs, 12 RBI, an 11.4% walk rate and a .665 OPS...Behind the plate, threw out eight runners on 26 attempts (30.8%) at Triple-A...Recorded a combined 15 home runs, a career-high in a single season.

2024

Split his sixth Minor League season between Double-A San Antonio and Triple-A El Paso, playing in 84 games with the Missions and 27 games with the Chihuahuas...Hit .232 (89-for-384) between the two stops, logging 19 doubles, nine home runs, 47 RBI, 44 walks and 44 runs scored...Defensively between both stops, he mixed in some work at 1B (22 games, 16 starts) for the first time since 2021 (besides one game with FW in 2023)…also made 17 appearances (all starts) as the designated hitter, but worked primarily behind the dish (71 games, 69 appearances), owning a .985 fielding percentage (11 errors in 730 total chances)...Named Texas League Player of the Month for June, his first career monthly award and the first Missions' player to win Player of the Month since Tirso Ornelas was awarded the honor in June 2023...reached base safely in all 22 June games, he batted .310 with a .384 OBP and led the Texas League with 47 total bases...his .924 OPS ranked second in the league, as did his 18 RBI...Homered in consecutive games June 18-19 at Amarillo...Went 3-for-4 with a home run and five RBI on June 25 vs. Midland, tied for the second-most RBI in his career.

2023

Began the season with High-A Fort Wayne (39 G) before his Double-A debut with the San Antonio Missions (27 G)...Owned a .279/.372/.456 slash line and a .994 fielding percentage (two errors in 310 total chances) behind the plate with FW at the time of his promotion to SA on June 27...Hit just .181 (17-94) with a .989 field percentage (2 E, 175 TC) behind the dish for SA…placed on the 7-day IL on Aug. 10 and did not play again the rest of the campaign...Matched his career high with a homer in three consecutive games from April 30-May 5 (also: Sept. 6-10)...Ended the 2024 season ranked as the Padres' No. 12 overall prospect and their second-highest ranked catcher (behind Ethan Salas) by MLB Pipeline. 

2022

Spent the entire campaign with High-A Fort Wayne, appearing in 99 games with a career-high 10 HR at a .209 clip (72-345)...Allowed just four errors in 681 total chances (.994 fielding percentage). 

2021

Spent majority of the season with Single-A Lake Elsinore (82 G) before promotion to High-A Fort Wayne (15 G) on Aug. 28...Posted career highs across the board offensively in several categories, including AVG (.299), SLG (.822), hits (113), total bases (162), RBI (69) and runs scored (54)...Earned his first weekly/monthly award honor with California League Player of the Week on May 9, 2021 for the Storm to open the season…hit safely in eight consecutive games to start the season with one 2B, three HR, six RBI and seven runs scored (.375/.500/.688)...Following the season, was named an MiLB.com Organization honor for SD, ranking second among Padres full season qualifiers in OBP (.393) and walk rate (13.3%), 5th in AVG and sixth in OPS.