Former Padres reliever lands with the Athletics on a minor league deal

There’s a type of pitcher the San Diego Padres seem to collect every year — the arm with one genuinely nasty stuff, a track record of missing bats in the minors, and just enough big-league scar tissue to make the next opportunity feel like the one that finally sticks. Nick Hernandez fits that profile pretty neatly, and now he’ll try to turn that “almost” into something real after signing a minor league deal with The Athletics for the 2026 season.

Padres fans might remember Hernandez as one of those blink-and-you-missed-it bullpen cameos, but the quick cameo doesn’t mean the stuff wasn’t intriguing. He debuted in 2023 with San Diego after signing on as a minor league free agent. And for a minute it looked like the Padres might’ve found another under-the-radar relief option to mix into the revolving door.

The Athletics take a flier on former Padres reliever Nick Hernandez

His appeal is fairly simple: He's got a low 80s slider; and a splitter that can leave batters looking confused if he locates it well. Together those two weapons have allowed Hernandez to strike out hitters and earn minor league all-star accolades as far back as 2021 while still a member of the Houston Astros organization (the Astros had selected Hernandez in the 7th round of the 2016 draft from the University of Houston). The Padres took a shot on him in 2023 (He logged 3 innings with a 12.00 ERA and 5 strikeouts), the Astros brought him back in 2024 and that's where the same story unfolded for him once again — moments of missing bats, but not enough command to stay on the tight rope at the major league level.

The control element has essentially been the entire story with this player. With one or even two poor sequences of walks, you can quickly eliminate the value of two positive outings and Hernandez has had his major league career define itself as such. 

From the Padres’ perspective, this is also a reminder of how thin bullpen depth really is. Teams like San Diego churn through relievers constantly because relief performance is volatile, injuries pop up, and the difference between “optionable depth” and “trusted leverage” is basically one month of command.

For Hernandez, The Athletics are offering what most pitchers really want: a clean slate, a camp invite, and a path — however narrow — back to the show. If the strikes show up consistently, the swing-and-miss stuff has always been there.