Padres-Royals Freddy Fermin Trade Suddenly Looks One-Sided

The San Diego Padres took a chance on making Freddy Fermin their starting catcher for the 2026 season.

Prior to this year, Fermin had never been a team's primary backstop. In 2024, he played 111 games for the Kansas City Royals when the team looked to manage Salvador Perez's workload.

President of baseball operations A.J. Preller executed the trade of the 2025 deadline when he acquired closer Mason Miller from the Athletics last summer. But there were a few others deals that were also key for the Padres down the stretch, one of them being the addition of Fermin from the Royals.

In 42 games with the Padres, Fermin hit .244 with two home runs, 14 runs batted in and an OPS of .617. The catcher was an immediate upgrade from Elias Diaz and Martin Maldonado, veterans who had become somewhat of a liability for the team at the plate.

Kansas City received right-handed pitchers Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek in exchange for Fermin. While the Padres found success with Fermin at the plate last season, his early tenure as the starting backstop in San Diego has been rough.

Fermin, 30, is hitting .182 with just two runs batted in and an OPS of .559. Meanwhile, both players in the return package from the Padres are off to strong starts in Triple-A this year — and the Padres could use them both.

Bergert is sporting a 2.79 ERA with 10 strikeouts across 9.2 innings pitched in the minors this season. Kolek has an even lower mark with a 2.16 ERA and six strikeouts across 8.1 innings of work.

The Padres, with injuries to Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove and Nick Pivetta, could use Bergert and Kolek this season.

Padres Knew What to Expect With Freddy Fermin

This spring, the Padres prepared to have Fermin as the starting catcher but knew there would be growing pains as he grew accustomed to the new role.

“There’s always going to be some learning curves,” manager Craig Stammen said in February. “I think there were some times he was calling a lot of sliders for Jeremiah Estrada, and we needed him to be throwing high heaters and the changeup. Those things will happen. But we’ve got to be OK with having a little bit of grace, like, ‘It’s all right, you’re learning.’

“What we saw from him in the playoffs against Chicago — the game not speeding up on him, him having complete control of the game, getting us out of a bunch of jams in those games and then his at-bats were great, too — he showed us who he really was in the playoffs. That’s got us really excited about this season.”

Fermin will have to turn a corner soon as the Padres are relying on him to carry a majority of the workload behind the plate. Luis Campusano stands behind him on the depth chart, and while he's off to a strong start, the 27-year-old has limited experience managing a big league pitching staff.

The Padres could be in trouble if Fermin can't break out of his offensive slump, but it may also still be too early to say they lost the trade.

For the Royals, though, they likely feel that they came out as big winners, with Perez and now Diaz on the team, as well as rookie catcher Carter Jensen, who has an .812 OPS.

Bergert and Kolek should each contribute to the big league team this year, too.

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