Padres Infielder Scratched From Wednesday's Lineup vs Great Britain

Jose Miranda has been breakout star for Padres in spring training

Miranda, who joined the Padres on a minor league deal in December, has enjoyed a strong spring thus far.

The former Minnesota Twins top prospect is 8-for-20 (.400) with five extra-base hits, six runs batted in and an OPS of 1.205. He's making a serious case to earn the team's final bench spot for Opening Day.

Could Jose Miranda make Padres' Opening Day roster?

Miranda has asserted himself into the competition for the Padres' final bench spot with his play in spring training.

The bench is likely to be made up of Luis Campusano, Sung-Mun Song and one of Nick Castellanos and Miguel Andujar (the other of which would be in the starting lineup). That leaves one spot left and a handful of guys competing for it.

Miranda, Bryce Johnson, Samad Taylor, Ty France, Will Wagner and Mason McCoy are among the players competing for that final spot. At this point, there's no clear frontrunner for the position.

Manager Craig Stammen recently provided some insight into what the team was looking for from that player.

“There’s always a lot of different things that happen and different equations,” Stammen said. “I’ve always said you want somebody off the bench that’s going to scare an opposing pitcher if you want to pinch-hit him, and then you need guys that can do special things, be puzzle pieces, can play different positions, can steal a base, can be very strategic defensively, you know, improve our defense at the end of a game.

“We’ll weigh all those attributes and figure out who’s best for those spots.”

Jose Miranda career

Miranda was once a highly-touted prospect after being drafted by the Twins in the second round of the 2016 draft.

However, he hasn't yet lived up to the hype, appearing in 298 games over the last four years and slashing .263/.310/.409 with 28 home runs, 133 RBIs and an OPS of .719.

After a down 2025 season, Miranda was removed from the Twins' 40-man roster and elected free agency. Now, he's in San Diego trying to get his career back on track at 27 years old.

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