SEATTLE -- The wait was worth it for Rodolfo Durán.
The aim was pretty good, too.
The 11-year Minor Leaguer, who earned his callup on May 7, when Luis Campusano went on the injured list with a fractured toe, had gone 0-for-10 across four games to begin his big league career.
Saturday, in the top of the seventh inning of the Padres’ 7-4 win over the Mariners, Durán gave himself a batting average and did it in style, swatting a first-pitch fastball from Seattle starter Logan Gilbert into the Padres' bullpen for his first career hit, his first career home run and his first two career RBIs, giving San Diego a 7-2 lead at the time.
“If you play baseball, if you want to be a Major Leaguer, you always think of that, you have dreams about it,” Durán said. “Now that I was able to do it, it’s amazing.”
The 95.1 mph heater came off Durán’s bat at 101.2 mph with a 25-degree launch angle and traveled a Statcast-projected 386 feet.
Despite the distance, it found a glove -- Jason Adam’s glove, to be exact, as the right-hander was warming up to throw the bottom of the seventh for San Diego. Adam flipped the ball to bullpen coach Ben Fritz, who found Durán in the clubhouse postgame with a promise to get him his souvenir. No terms of a negotiation were spoken of.
“We were all so excited for him,” said Gavin Sheets, who got the scoring started for the Padres with a solo homer in the top of the second. “We just wanted to get him that first hit, and to get it as a home run, too, was pretty special. It’s a special moment for anybody. That’s what you dream of as your first hit in the big leagues.”
Durán is the first Padres player to homer for his first career hit since Graham Pauley did so on March 30, 2024.
Two innings later, Durán put an even better swing on a sinker from Domingo Gonzalez, drilling a shot 389 feet out to right-center field. This one also cleared the wall and also found the glove -- but the leather in question belonged to Seattle center fielder Julio Rodríguez, who brought it back.
“In that part of the stadium, I didn’t know if I had it,” Durán said. “But as soon as I saw Julio jump, I said, ‘Maybe.’ But then he got it.”
Durán signed with the Phillies all the way back in 2015 as a 17-year-old out of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. In the decade-plus since, he has spent time in the Yankees’ and Royals’ systems before coming to the Padres on a Minor League contract in January 2025. He’d racked up 614 career games in the Minors before earning his callup.
In the past two years, though, Durán began to turn two important heads in the Padres’ organization. The first belonged to catching coach Kevin Plawecki. The second was bench coach Randy Knorr.
“Kevin was talking about how he did in Triple-A last year, how he commanded the staff, commanded the room, just had control of the game every time that he caught,” manager Craig Stammen said. “And one thing we didn’t expect from him was the offense that he showed in El Paso last year.”
Durán hit .288 last season with Triple-A El Paso with 16 home runs -- his most since 2018 -- and 16 doubles, with a career-high 73 RBIs. As a non-roster invitee to Spring Training, he slugged three more homers en route to a 1.086 OPS in 16 games, and in 23 games with the Chihuahuas this season, he’d hit .238 with a .785 OPS, 20 RBIs and four home runs.
“He really turned it on at the end of the season and he showed it again in Spring Training,” Stammen said. “We saw some of that pop that he has in his bat today.”
Durán’s blast capped a three-homer day for the Padres against Seattle starter Logan Gilbert, and a seven-run performance despite the second straight game with the top third of the San Diego lineup going hitless. Nick Castellanos had the other big swing, drilling a first-pitch slider a Statcast-projected 401 feet to center field for a three-run homer.
“The big boys can’t carry us the whole season,” Stammen said. “When the other guys pitch in and do their part and carry the load when those guys are figuring their swings out, that’s what makes a great team.”