San Diego Padres: Former farmhand dazzles in KBO debut

With the KBO resuming play last night, former San Diego Padres farmhand Odrisamer Despaigne pitched very well for the KT Wiz.

All the buzz around baseball fans is ESPN picking up the rights to air the Korean Baseball Organization, which resumed play last night after a brief spike in COVID-19 cases. And wouldn’t you know it that former San Diego Padres pitcher, Odrisamer Despaigne, took the mound for the KT Wiz?

It was actually a battle of former Marlins teammates as Dan Straily took the mound for the Lotte Giants. Anyways, Depaigne pitched six innings of four-hit ball, allowing just one earned run while striking out eight batters.

Obviously, it’s still early into the season, but this is exactly how players get another shot at playing in the MLB. Look at Miles Mikolas – another former Padre – who spent three seasons with the Yomiuri Giants of the Nippon Professional Baseball League before making his return across the pond.

Padres’s Pierce Johnson is another great example after spending time in the Cubs and Giants organizations before figuring out how to attack hitters in the NPBL.

Back to Despaigne.

After being traded from the Padres in February 2016, he bounced around to the Orioles, Marlins, Angels, Reds, and White Sox. If you recall, he also ended up being part of Chris Paddack‘s path to the Padres.

We’ll keep tabs on Despaigne. While it’s unlikely that he would return to the Padres, given how crowded both the rotation and bullpen are, but Despaigne could latch on in some capacity should he perform well enough.