Jose Espada #86

On Dec. 17, 2024, the right-hander re-signed with the Padres on a Minor League deal for 2025 for his second stint with the club...His lone MLB appearance came in a relief outing with SD on Sept. 24, 2023 vs. STL, tossing a scoreless frame. That same season he also made his Double-A and Triple-A debuts with San Antonio and El Paso, respectively...Pitched in a combined no-hitter while with High-A Greenville of the Red Sox farm system on Sept. 2, 2021, retiring all six batters faced across the sixth and seventh innings of the 6-0 victory...Across parts of eight Minor League seasons between TOR (2015-19), BOS (2020) and SD (2022-23), owns a 13-21 record, 3.97 ERA (165 ER, 374.0 IP) and .222 opponents’ AVG across 132 appearances (60 starts).

2024

On Dec.7, 2023, Espada signed with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball...He made 24 appearances for the Swallows in 2024, compiling a 0–2 record, five holds and 5.00 ERA with 16 strikeouts across 27 innings pitched.

2023

Made his Double-A, Triple-A and MLB debuts, splitting the season between San Antonio (26 G), El Paso (9 G) and SD (1 G)...Between both minor league stops, made career highs in appearances (35), holds (3), IP (83.1), SO (110) and total pitches thrown (1,424)...Tossed at least 2.0 IP in 25 of his 35 appearances...In his 9 starts, he went 0-1 with a 3.04 ERA (9 ER, 26.2 IP) with a 13.05 SO/9 IP ratio...in his 26 relief outings, he went 3-1 with a 2.86 ERA (18 ER, 56.2 IP) and 11.53 SO/9 IP ratio...Held a 2.75 ERA across his first 17 outings (3 starts) from April 6-June 14 before allowing a season-high 5 ER on June 20 vs. Midland…following that outing, posted a 2.08 ERA across his final 15 outings from June 24-Sept. 15...All 3 of his winning decisions came in 3 consecutive outings from July 26-Aug. 3...Prior to having his contract selected by SD on Sept. 22, owned a 0.69 ERA (1 ER, 13.0 IP) across his 5 previous appearances (2 starts) for ELP from Aug. 29-Sept. 15...Made his MLB debut and his lone big league appearance on Sept. 24 vs. STL, striking out 2 and walking 2 while finishing off SD’s 12-2 victory…remained with the big league club through the end of the regular season...Between ELP and SA, limited RHH to a .176 AVG (31-for-176) while LHH batted .266 (33-for-124)…limited the opposition to a .190 clip (16-for-84) with RISP...On Nov.17, 2023, he was non-tendered a contract by the Padres and became a free agent.

2022

Made eight appearances (all starts) of Independent ball for the Milwaukee Milkmen of the American Association of Professional Baseball, going 2-1 with a 3.61 ERA (17 ER, 42.1 IP)...Signed a minor league deal with the Padres on July 1 and was assigned to High-A Fort Wayne, where he went 1-3 with a 4.95 ERA (18 ER, 40.0 IP) across 11 appearances (7 starts).

2021

In his only season with the Red Sox organization, made 28 appearances (2 starts) for High-A Greenville and went 2-0 with a 3.50 ERA (15 ER, 43.2 IP), .199 opponents’ AVG, 11.04 SO/9 IP and 3.31 SO/BB ratio (53 SO, 16 BB)...Pitched in a combined no-hitter against Asheville on September 2, striking out two of his six batters faced across the 6th and 7th innings of Greenville’s 6-0 victory.

2020

Did not pitch in 2020 due to the COVID-19 cancellation of the minor league season.