Padres Release Pablo Reyes

The Padres have released infielder Pablo Reyes from his minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He is now a free agent and is eligible to sign with any club in the league.

Reyes, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Padres in the offseason. He has been performing quite well and the Padres haven’t been getting a lot of production from their big league infield, so it’s possible that Reyes triggered a July 1st opt-out in his deal.

He has appeared in 56 Triple-A games this year and stepped to the plate 258 times. He has a .310/.408/.491 line and 121 wRC+. He has gotten some help from a high .347 batting average on balls in play but his 13.6% walk rate and 14% strikeout rate are both much better than average.

Throughout his big league career, Reyes has mostly been a light-hitting utility guy. He has a .245/.305/.342 line and 76 wRC+ in 606 plate appearances spread over seven seasons, suiting up for five different teams. But he’s a capable defender at multiple defensive positions, with experience at every spot except catcher, so a team could put him at shortstop every day.

Reyes will now look for his next opportunity. It’s possible the Padres look to bring him back on a new minor league deal, given their aforementioned infield issues, but he will have the chance to talk to the other 29 clubs as well.