The Padres announced that outfielder Nomar Mazara has been designated for assignment. In the corresponding move, outfielder Jose Azocar was called up from Triple-A.
Mazara signed a minor-league deal with San Diego during the offseason, reuniting the former top Rangers prospect with Padres president of baseball operations (and former Rangers front-office member) A.J. Preller. The Padres selected Mazara’s contract in early June, and he has hit .264/.316/.352 with two home runs over 171 plate appearances.
Brought up to add some left-handed depth to San Diego’s bench, Mazara has actually performed better (.777 OPS) in 25 PA against left-handed pitching than over 146 PA against right-handed pitching (.649 OPS). The additions of Juan Soto and Josh Bell added a lot of extra balance to the Padres lineup and made Mazara a little redundant, especially considering that the Padres also have the left-handed-hitting Trent Grisham and the switch-hitting Jurickson Profar in their first-choice outfield.
While Mazara’s numbers aren’t anything spectacular, they still represent an improvement over his last two seasons, when he hit .219/.285/.309 over 330 combined PA with the White Sox and Tigers in 2020-21. This could be enough for Mazara to perhaps get a look on the DFA wire from a team in need of outfield depth, or another executive (like Preller) could have memories of Mazara’s potential as a highly touted minor-leaguer.
More must-reads: