San Diego Padres: From Odrisamer Despaigne to Chris Paddack

We take a trip down memory lane looking at former San Diego Padres hurler Odrisamer Despaigne who now plays in the KBO.

If you’re like me, you’re at the point of desperation for any kind of baseball. I can only dominate with the San Diego Padres in a video game for so long.

But we may have some relief in that area coming soon as the Korean Baseball League is scheduled to start it’s season on May 5.

And ESPN is apparently close to getting broadcast rights to air those games on TV.

While it’s certainly not the Padres, it does give die-hard baseball fans like myself — and I’m sure plenty of you — a taste of real baseball action.

And it could also lay the groundwork for Major League Baseball possibly resuming at some point in 2020.

It sounds like the KBO is very careful in protecting players and gameday staff with multiple tests for each player prior to games with players and personnel wearing masks during the game.

It would not be surprising if MLB sits back and sees how this works out for them over a couple of weeks before making a decision on when they could possibly restart.

But beyond all of that, while looking at the roster of former MLB players who are in the KBO, I ran across the name Odrisamer Despaigne.

For Padres fans, you’re likely very familiar with that name.

In 2014 the Padres signed the then 27-year-old righty out of Cuba for $1 million.

Despaigne’s deal with the Padres was a minor league deal, but he didn’t spend much time there despite the unimpressive numbers. He posted a 6.03 ERA in 7 starts between Double-A and Triple-A in 2014. But he did strikeout 41 batters in just 31.1 innings.

However, once called up he was a huge success with the Padres posting a 3.36 ERA in 96.1 innings with a WHIP of 1.22. But his K/9 was just 6.1.

The following season his numbers came back to Earth a little bit with a 5.80 ERA in 125.2 innings with just 69 strikeouts.

That next offseason the Padres traded Despaigne to the Baltimore Orioles for Jean Cosme. I believe Cosme is still in the Padres system. In 2019 he reached Double-A at 23 years old but posted a 6.94 ERA in 23.1 innings out of the bullpen with 22 strikeouts.

But what’s key to point out here is that Fernando Rodney was signed to replace Despaigne on the roster. And then as we all know, the Padres later traded Rodney to the Miami Marlins for Chris Paddack.

So in a way, Despaigne led to Paddack. That’s pretty cool to think about.

And if you want to celebrate that connection, you can watch the former Padre suit up for the KT Wiz of the KBO as they resume play next week.