Pedro Avila #82

Threw 25.2 innings as a starter vs. 24.2 innings as a reliever in 2023. Among all hurlers with rookie status last season (min. 24.0 IP in relief), his 1.46 ERA in relief trailed only Jhony Brito, one of the four pitchers SD acquired in the trade that sent Juan Soto and Trent Grisham to NYY...Compiled three straight relief outings of 4.0+ IP while allowing 1 ER-or-fewer from Aug. 6-17, 2023 - one of just two pitchers in SD history to do so (also: Mike Corkins, August 1973)...After clearing outright waivers in June of 2022, he had his contract selected in November '22 and was added to the 40-man roster...His 124 strikeouts in 2022 were the most by an El Paso (AAA) pitcher in team history, surpassing the previous record of 121 held by Chris Smith (2015) and Carlos Pimentel (2016)...Underwent Tommy John surgery on Sept. 14, 2019, and he did not pitch in 2020 while recovering...Made his ML debut in a start on April 11, 2019, at ARI (one run, four hits, 5 SO, 1 BB), which was his only appearance for SD in 2019 at the big league level. Prior to his debut, his one start for Amarillo (AA) was the highest level at which he had pitched...His 142 strikeouts in 2018 ranked second in the California League and third in the Padres system while his 170 punchouts in 2017 led all SD farmhands...On Aug. 8, 2017, struck out a Fort Wayne (A) record 17 batters with 0 BB allowed.

2023

Had his contract selected and added to the 40-man roster on Nov. 10, 2022…recalled from Triple-A El Paso for the second and final time on July 23, remaining with the big league club for the balance of the regular season...Went 1-0 with a 1.46 ERA (4 ER, 24.2 IP) and .184/.276/.299 opponent slash line in his eight relief appearances vs. a 4.91 ERA (14 ER, 25.2 IP) and .270/.383/.370 slash line across six starts...Among all rookies who tossed at least 24.0 innings in relief, his 1.46 ERA led the NL and ranked second among all ML rookies, behind only NYY Jhony Brito’s 1.43 ERA...Six of his first seven outings for SD came in a relief role and he was scoreless in four of the seven appearances from July 2-Aug. 21 (1.17 ERA, .214 opp. AVG)...Compiled three straight relief outings of 4.0+ IP while allowing one ER-or-fewer from Aug. 6-17, one of just two pitchers in SD history to do so (also: Mike Corkins, Aug 1973)...that last ML pitcher to do so was OAK's Daniel Mengden in Sept 2018, with Bob Melvin serving as the manager for both hurlers...Five of his seven final outings came as a starter from Aug 26-Oct 1...in those seven outings, he went 2-2 with a 4.94 ERA (15 ER, 27.1 IP), .243 opp. AVG and .150 WHIP...In his start vs. PHI on Sept. 5, he became the first ML starter to toss 6.2+ scoreless innings while walking at least six since STL's Adam Wainwright on June 2, 2019 vs. PIT, when he went eight scoreless innings with seven walks allowed...Struck out a career-high seven on three occasions, back-to-back outings on Aug 1 @ COL and Aug 6 vs LAD, as well as his final outing of the season on Oct 1 @ CWS...Made seven appearances at both home and on the road…posted a 1.90 ERA (5 ER, 23.2 IP) at Petco Park and a 5.40 ERA (13 ER, 26.2 IP) in away parks...Limited left-handed hitters to a .188 AVG (15-80) while righties hit .262 (28-107)...Opponents hit .217 (10-46) with RISP and .100 (2-20) with RISP/2 out...Per Statcast, relied on four pitches: four-seam fastball (32.4%), changeup (25.6%), sinker (21%) and curveball (21%)…opponents hit just .148 (9-61) vs. his changeup, with 26 of his 54 strikeouts coming against the pitch...Ranked in the 98th percentile in ground ball percentage (60.3%) and 92nd percentile in barrel rate (4.4%)...In Minor League action in '23, he made 20 appearances (15 starts) between ELP (19 appearances) and Fort Wayne (one appearance), going 1-6 with a 8.42 ERA, 7.9 SO/9 IP ratio and .309 AVG.

2022

Had two separate stints with the Padres’ Major League club, making the first two relief appearances of his MLB career on April 14 vs. ATL (1.0 IP, 2 H, ER, HR, 2 SO, GF) and April 24 vs. LAD (3.0 IP, H, ER, BB, 3 SO)...Called up as the 27th man for the May 4 doubleheader at CLE but did not appear in the games and was returned to El Paso that same day...Spent the majority of the season with El Paso, making 30 app. and a career-high 24 starts for the Chihuahuas, going 7-2 with a 4.58 ERA (57 ER, 112.0 IP) and an El Paso club-record 124 strikeouts against 49 walks...He cleared waivers and was outrighted to El Paso on June 6, 2022..Made his 100th professional start on June 23 @ Sacramento...On Sept. 23 vs. Oklahoma City, he led the Chihuahuas to the team's 83rd victory of the season, the most in a single season in team history...the previous record was 82 wins in 2018...he struck out nine Dodgers and set a new single-season strikeout record by a Chihuahuas pitcher...Had his contract selected and was added to the Padres’ 40-man roster on Nov. 10, 2022.

2021

Split the majority of his season between San Antonio (AA) and El Paso (AAA) before having his contract selected by SD on Oct. 1 to make his second career ML start that same day @ SF (4.0 IP, 4 H, ER, 3 BB, 5 SO)...Made 13 app. (1 start) for ELP, going 1-0 with a 3.22 ERA (8 ER, 22.1 IP)…tossed 23 outings (10 starts) for SA, going 1-4 with a 4.64 ERA (27 ER, 52.1 IP) while converting both of his two save opportunities...Limited hitters to a .208 AVG along with a 3.04 ERA across 18 outings (1 start) in June/July...Posted eight scoreless outings (2 starts) of 2.0-or-more innings. 

2020

Did not pitch while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery (performed on September 14, 2019).

2019

Made his ML debut for SD on April 11 at ARI and spent the rest of the season between Amarillo (AA) and the AZL Padres (R)…after ending his rehab program for a strained right elbow with the AZL Padres, Avila made 1 start for AMA in August before aggravating the injury and undergoing Tommy John surgery on September 14...Tossed 5.1 innings of 1-run, 4-hit ball in his ML debut on April 11 at ARI, striking out 5 and walking 1 but did not factor into SD's 7-6 eventual win…with his start, it marked the 1st time in SD history in which the team saw 3 debuts as a starting pitcher within the 1st 14 games of a season (also: Nick Margevicius on March 30 vs. SF and Chris Paddack on March 31 vs. SF)...The Padres posted 6 consecutive ML debuts of 5.0+ innings and 2 earned runs-or-fewer, with Avila's being the 4th...in order: Jacob Nix (2018), Nick Margevicius, Chris Paddack, Pedro Avila, Cal Quantrill and Logan Allen…the Padres became the 1st team to string together 6 straight such ML debuts overlapping seasons since the Los Angeles Dodgers from August 2002 to May 2008...Made just 1 start for AMA prior to his big league debut, a 1-run, 2-hit outing across 6.0 IP on April 6 at Corpus Christi…prior to 2019, he had not made an appearance above A-ball.

2018

Avila (pronounced AH-vee-lah) spent the entire season with Lake Elsinore (A), going 7-9 with a 4.27 ERA (62 ER, 130.2 IP) across 24 appearances (20 starts)...Earned California League Mid-Season All-Star honors and logged a career-high 130.2 IP...his 142 SO led all LE hurlers, ranked second in the CAL and third in the Padres' system...Allowed three earned runs-or-fewer in eight of his 10 outings (3.72 ERA) in the first two months of the season from 4/8-5/31...For LE, earned the win in each of his six outings (three starts) from 7/5-8/5...went 4-0 with a 2.67 ERA (9 ER, 30.1 IP) and 33 SO against eight BB over the stretch...Recorded four double-digit SO games, including a season-high 11 punchouts in his season finale on 8/29 at Inland Empire.