Friars Add Former AL Rookie of the Year Candidate on MiLB Deal

File this under recent news. Last week, the Padres signed long time big league outfielder Oscar Mercado to a minor league deal and he's gotten off to a nice enough start down at Triple-A. 

Mercado, who finished 8th in American League Rookie of the Year voting back in 2019, has spent parts of 5 seasons at the big league level, most recently with the St. Louis Cardinals where he hit .290 in 20 games before being cut. 

His best season as a big leaguer was back in his rookie season in 2019 where he hit 15 home runs and drove in 54 over 115 games for the Cleveland Guardians. 

Mercado has played all around the outfield in his career and adds some depth to the grass for the El Paso club down at Triple-A. Depending on how the next two weeks go for the Padres, the veteran outfielder isn't expected to help on the 26-man roster, but if the front office signals a sell off and potentially looks to trade guys like Trent Grisham (not likely) or Juan Soto, then we could see Mercado gets some reps for the Friars over the final two months of the regular season.