Padres release catcher Blake Hunt after DFA; he heads to free agency

The San Diego Padres have released catcher Blake Hunt, per MLB.com's transactions tracker as reported by Darragh McDonald of MLB Trade Rumors. Hunt had been designated for assignment earlier this week, and he will enter free agency as soon as he clears release waivers — if he has not already done so.

What happened

The sequence here is fairly routine, even if the underlying roster arithmetic is worth unpacking. When a club designates a player for assignment, it has three paths available: trade the player, place him on outright waivers, or place him on release waivers. Per the report, the trade window was already closed for Hunt because his designation came after the trade deadline, which removed that option from the table entirely.

That left San Diego choosing between outright waivers and release waivers. The outright route carried a wrinkle: because Hunt already has an outright assignment on his career record, he would have had the right to elect free agency had he cleared outright waivers anyway. Per the report, it is possible Hunt might have accepted an outright assignment given the timing — a player who clears to another organization this late in the season would not be playoff eligible with that new club. But as McDonald notes, the Padres are not likely to need Hunt down the stretch or into the postseason, and the club appears to have felt comfortable enough with its catching depth to simply let him go.

Why it matters

The practical answer to why San Diego moved on from Hunt rather than maneuvering around the waiver process is standing right there in the Padres' catching corps. Per the report, the club currently carries Freddy Fermin, Luis Campusano, and Ethan Salas on the big league roster, while Rodolfo Durán is on optional assignment at Triple-A El Paso. That is four catchers in the organizational pipeline at the upper levels, which makes Hunt — whose major league track record consists of exactly three plate appearances, all of which ended in strikeouts — a difficult roster case to defend in September.

The timing also connects to a move made two days earlier. Per prior Posterior Wire reporting, Nick Pivetta was reinstated from the 60-day IL on September 7, with Jhony Brito optioned to Triple-A to create the corresponding roster space. Hunt's designation for assignment was the mechanism that cleared his spot on the 40-man roster as part of that transaction. Pivetta, for his part, rewarded the move quickly: he returned and threw 5 scoreless innings for San Diego.

Is Hunt likely to catch on elsewhere this season?

Per the report, given how late the calendar has run, it is possible Hunt will move directly into offseason mode and set his sights on 2027 rather than attempting to latch on with a club for the final weeks of the regular season. Any team that claimed him on waivers or signed him now would be adding a player ineligible for postseason play, which narrows the market considerably at this point in September.

The numbers

Hunt's big league résumé is brief by any measure: three plate appearances, three strikeouts. That is the entirety of his major league track record, per the report.

The minor league picture is more encouraging. Per the report, Hunt carries a combined .259/.339/.467 line dating back to the start of the 2023 season, and his numbers this year have been notably stronger at .301/.381/.617. The report also notes that he has a solid defensive reputation built during his time in the minors. Whether that combination — a promising bat in the upper minors, a well-regarded glove, and essentially no major league exposure — translates into offseason interest will be the question Hunt's representatives are working through now.

Where the club stands

San Diego sits at 77-68 (.531) on the season, third in the NL West and 11 games back of the division lead. More relevantly for the next few weeks, the Padres rank fourth in the Wild Card standings, sitting 0.5 games relative to the cut line, and have won three straight.

That Wild Card position means every game between now and the end of the regular season carries real weight. The Padres are not in a position to be sentimental about roster construction, which is part of what makes the Hunt release straightforward to understand even if it is a tough outcome for the player.

Per prior Posterior Wire reporting, San Diego and the Arizona Diamondbacks are competing for the final Wild Card spot, with their series carrying direct playoff implications. That backdrop makes the club's preference for a settled, experienced catching group over a depth option with three career plate appearances fairly easy to follow.

On the schedule, San Diego hosts the Washington Nationals on Wednesday, September 9 at Petco Park, with Walker Buehler projected against Jackson Kent. The club then travels to Oracle Park to face the San Francisco Giants on Friday, September 11 — Robbie Ray against Anthony Molina — and again on Saturday, September 12, with Michael King projected opposite Cesar Perdomo.

The catching depth the Padres are leaning on through that stretch — Fermin, Campusano, and Salas at the big league level, Durán in El Paso — is the group that will carry them into October if the Wild Card position holds.

What we don't know yet

The report notes that Hunt will become a free agent once he clears release waivers, but whether he has already cleared at the time of reporting is not established. The waiver process runs on its own clock, and no club interest has been reported.

It also remains to be seen whether Hunt pursues a late-season opportunity if one materializes, or whether he and his representatives determine that the postseason ineligibility issue makes waiting for the offseason market the more sensible path. The report raises both possibilities without resolving them.

What to watch

The immediate question for Hunt is whether any club files a claim during the waiver period. Given the timing and the postseason eligibility constraint, the more meaningful market will likely be the offseason, where his minor league numbers — particularly the .301/.381/.617 line this year — and his defensive reputation could generate genuine interest as a backup or depth option.

For the Padres, the catching group is set for the stretch run. The more pressing watch item is the Wild Card race itself: at 0.5 games relative to the cut line with the schedule tightening, the margin for error is thin enough that roster decisions like this one — clearing a depth piece to keep the active group clean and focused — reflect exactly the kind of organizational clarity a club needs when October is this close and this uncertain.