Juan Nuñez

Position(s): Right-handed pitcher
Bats / Throws: Right / Right
2024 opening day age: 24
Height / Weight: 5-foot-10 / 190 pounds
How acquired: Rule 5 draft in December 2024 (Orioles)
Contract status: Has yet to make MLB debut
fWAR in 2024: N/A
Key 2024 stats (minors): 2-1, 2.45 ERA, 38 strikeouts, 10 walks, 1.09 WHIP, .212 opponent average, 29⅓ innings (7 games, 4 starts)

0 — The number of innings thrown above A-ball as Nuñez spent all of an injury-marred 2024 season at high Single-A Aberdeen.

Idle — The Twins signed Nuñez out of the Dominican Republic in November 2019 for $25,000 and he’d shown enough in three years, despite losing 2020 to the pandemic, for the Orioles to ask for his inclusion in the deal that sent All-Star reliever Jorge Lopez to Minnesota in August 2022. To date, Nuñez has 288 strikeouts and a 1.25 WHIP over 230⅔ innings across parts of four years in the minors, although shoulder woes limited his innings in 2024. The stuff, however, was enough for the Padres to dream on when plucking him out of the Orioles system, one of the deepest in baseball. He sits 92-98 mph with a slider, a cutter and a change-up. He’s averaged 11.7 strikeouts and 3.07 walks per nine innings in the minors and is ranked No. 11 in the Padres system according to MLB.com (Baseball America had Nuñez as Baltimore’s No. 20 prospect going into 2024). Nuñez was back to throwing and progressing througha normal offseason at the time of the Rule 5 draft.

With the team shopping Dylan Cease this winter and trading away upper-level arms in recent years, there is a need for young starting pitching options in the organization. It’s a long-shot, to be sure, but Nuñez will get every opportunity to win a job this spring, whether in the back of the rotation or in long relief. Nuñez marks the third straight year that the Padres, as contenders have selected a player in the Rule 5 draft. Jose Lopez was offered backed to the Rays before the start of the 2023 season, while Stephen Kolek worked in the Padres’ bullpen until hitting the injured list after the trade deadline. Luis Perdomo is the last Rule 5 pitcher to work in the Padres’ rotation, making 20 starts for a rebuilding team in 2016. .

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