Padres Injured Pitcher Reveals When He'll Make 2025 Debut After Tommy John Surgery

Despite missing the entire 2024 season due to a Tommy John surgery, the San Diego Padres still brought back Luis Patiño on a minor league contract.

San Diego didn't tender him a contract in November and opted not to keep him on the 40-man roster all winter. So, they sent him to free agency and successfully brought him back without dedicating a roster spot.

Patiño thought he was going to have to finish his rehab with another team but he's glad to be back with the club that signed him as a 16-year-old in July 2016.

The right-hander was invited to big league camp with the new deal that he signed in January and has begun his journey back to the big leagues.

He threw his eighth bullpen on Tuesday — just fastballs and changeups — and expects to get to 15 ‘pens before facing live hitters, according to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Patiño expects to be ready to return to game action in the middle of May which is also when the Padres will have a better idea of whether he will start or come out of the bullpen.

“I know San Diego; I know this organization,” Patiño said. “The people in the front office know my work ethic. I believe in the organization. I wanted to do my rehab with this team and be ready to play in the big leagues in May or June and prepare to get back on the 40-man roster.”

Patino made his Major League Baseball debut with the Padres before being traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in 2020 as part of the deal for Blake Snell. He was ranked as high as the No. 19 prospect in baseball in 2021 while with Tampa Bay.

In 2023, the Rays sent him to the Chicago White Sox, but the Padres later brought him back off waivers that same year.

The Colombian-born right-hander holds a 5.12 ERA across 123 innings at the Triple-A level. In four MLB seasons with the Padres, Rays, and White Sox, Patino has recorded a 5.02 ERA over 136.1 innings, with a 20.2 percent strikeout rate and an 11.4 percent walk rate.

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