Padres' ex-trick pitch righty keeps collecting NL West jerseys in latest Giants stop

You have to hand it to Brent Honeywell Jr. The guy does not give up. The right-handed screw-baller will turn 31 years old at the end of the March — and boy has he gone through it.

He has overcome four elbow procedures, including one Tommy John surgery. He's hit the injured list more times than you'd wish on your worst enemy. For as many times as he's thrown a pitch in the big leagues, he's been sent up and down, designated for assignment, and forgotten about just as often.

But here he is, still kicking it. After not pitching in 2025, Honeywell Jr. will join his sixth MLB team, and third in the NL West. The former Padre signed a minor league contract with the Giants this week.

Former San Diego Padre Brent Honeywell Jr. signs with Giants on minor league contract

Honeywell Jr. last pitched a regular season game in Major League Baseball on September 24, 2024 before hitting the injured list for the umpteenth time, doing so with a cracked right middle fingernail. That was when he was signed to the Dodgers, another NL West foe.

He was part of the World Series team, registering a 9.35 ERA in 8.2 frames with two strikeouts. Honeywell Jr. pitched against in the Mets in the NLCS twice, then once against the Yankees in the World Series.

Before that, he pitched with the Padres in 2023, striking out 42 batters in 46.2 innings before he was DFA'd in early August. He has never spent more than one season with a team, spending one campaign each with the Rays, Padres, White Sox, Pirates, and Dodgers.

The news of Honeywell Jr.'s career revival comes at the same time as the continued fall of a Padres pitcher. Matt Waldron, who began the 2025 season with an oblique injury, struggled in the minor leagues, thus keeping him from any real time with the Padres. On Tuesday, San Diego shut him down in what was hoped to be a comeback season.