Padres add former Mets reliever who took a wild, injury-riddled road to MLB

The San Diego Padres didn’t just add a reliever on Dec. 4 — they added a major comeback story. Ty Adcock’s road to the majors has been so chaotic, so injury-riddled, that the Padres might as well have signed a walking billboard for perseverance.

Adcock’s path wasn’t supposed to look like this. He entered college as a two-way catcher and hitter, only to be told somewhere along the way, “Hey, how about pitching full time?” Good call. His arm played, when it worked. The Seattle Mariners took him in the eighth round in 2019, and then everything that could go sideways… did.

Padres roll the dice on Ty Adcock and his long, bruising path to the majors

A shoulder injury wiped out his first real chance at pro innings. The pandemic erased 2020. Tommy John then erased 2021. 

He finally got the ball for real in 2022 and hit fast-forward, climbing the ladder until he broke through with the Mariners in 2023. In that first look, he more than held his own — a 3.45 ERA over 12 appearances from a guy who’d spent most of the previous three years getting scanned, scoped, and rehabbed instead of racking up innings.

Then came the Mets chapter, and it did his stat line no favors. He got rocked to a 14.54 ERA in 2024. But buried in all that noise was a quieter rebound: a 3.00 ERA over three outings in 2025. Tiny sample? Absolutely. Still, it was enough for the Padres to convince themselves there’s something here worth gambling on.

This isn’t a flier, a minor-league invite, or a “let’s stash him in El Paso and see what happens” signing. San Diego handed the 29-year-old a major league contract. That means he’s not here to admire the scenery, they absolutely intend on using his five-pitch mix, headlined by a four-seam fastball/slider combo.

For a team that has spent the offseason trying to unearth affordable help without blowing up what actually worked last year, Adcock fits the mold: big arm, big upside, big resilience.

If the comeback continues in San Diego, this could quietly become one of those depth moves that ends up mattering in August. And if it doesn’t? It’s still hard not to root for a guy who’s fought this long just for the chance.