Padres Designate Tirso Ornelas For Assignment

The Padres announced that outfield Tirso Ornelas has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding 40-man roster move for right-hander Griffin Canning, whose signing is now official.

Ornelas, 26 next month, has been on San Diego’s roster since July of 2024. He got to make a brief major league debut in 2025, putting up a .071/.188/.071 batting line in 16 plate appearances over seven games.

He has generally been a pretty good hitter in his minor league career. Over the past three years, he has stepped to the plate 1,471 times on the farm, mostly at the Triple-A level. His 11.3% walk rate and 17% strikeout rate in that span are both good numbers, with 48 home runs to boot. However, since that production came in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, his .285/.371/.452 line isn’t as impressive as it initially appears. That translates to a 108 wRC+, indicating he was 8% better than average for that league.

That’s still solid hitting but Ornelas really needs to crush to provide value. He has some center field experience but is mostly a corner guy who isn’t considered a strong defender, nor is he a burner on the basepaths. The Friars have Fernando Tatis Jr. and Ramón Laureano in their outfield corners with Jackson Merrill up the middle. The roster also features other guys who could factor into the outfield mix, such as Gavin Sheets, Nick Castellanos, Miguel Andujar, Sung Mun Song and Bryce Johnson.

The overall picture has pushed Ornelas off the roster and into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Friars could take five days to field trade interest. He still has one minor league option remaining, so he could appeal to a club looking for some extra outfield depth, especially one that needs another lefty bat. Despite his flaws, Baseball America recently ranked him the #28 prospect in the system.

If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would not have the right to elect free agency since he has less than three years of big league service time and does not have a previous career outright.