Padres’ latest depth signing hints at a reunion fans forgot about

There are minor league signings that are pure organizational filler, and then there are the ones that quietly tell you the San Diego Padres are trying to buy themselves options. Blake Hunt coming back to San Diego feels like the second kind, a reunion that’s easy to miss in the transaction log, but oddly meaningful when you trace the path that got him here.

Hunt, now 27, was a second-round pick by the Padres in 2017, developed in the system, and then shipped out as part of the Blake Snell trade during the 2020-21 offseason. Since then, his career has looked like a case study in modern roster math: he’s good enough to keep showing up on radars, but he kept landing in organizations where the big-league catching picture was either crowded, impatient, or both.

Padres quietly add catching depth by reuniting with Blake Hunt

Hunt’s 2023 upper-minors production with the Rays’ affiliates made him feel like he was knocking on the door: .256/.331/.484 with 12 homers in 67 games between Double-A and Triple-A. But Tampa Bay didn’t add him to the 40-man roster, and with minor league free agency looming, they pivoted — dealing him to Seattle, who did put him on the 40-man.

Then Hunt started 2024 scorching hot at Triple-A Tacoma (.293/.372/.533 in 24 games), which was enough for Baltimore to take a swing and acquire him in the deal that sent Michael Baumann to Seattle in May 2024. 

Seattle then re-acquired him in the 2024-25 offseason and stashed him as depth, which is where the problem becomes obvious.

The Mariners had no space for Hunt to emerge with a lot of room between him, with Cal Raleigh and Mitch Garver being the big league catchers. And Raleigh having an MVP-caliber 2025 season. So, there is little room for growth for players competing against established catchers in those kinds of organizations.

In 2025, Hunt showed a nice rebound while playing in the Triple A level with a slash line of .272/.368/.452 in 62 games, translating to a 108 wRC+ (which is good). Although it is true that offense may be inflated in the PCL, the "PCL tax" does not eliminate the larger point that Hunt resembled his old self in the second half of the 2025 season after having a tough time in Baltimore. He then became eligible for minor league free agency after the season. 

San Diego’s catching situation isn’t exactly ironclad. Freddy Fermin still profiles more like a part-time piece than a “set it and forget it” starter, and Luis Campusano is currently sitting in that awkward space where he’s technically the backup… but hasn’t recently been treated like a long-term answer. Meanwhile, Ethan Salas is still a future play rather than a 2026 solution, which means the Padres need grown-up depth in the meantime.

That’s where Hunt comes in. He’s here because the Padres know how quickly catching depth becomes a problem — and because Hunt, unlike in Seattle or Baltimore, might have a clearer runway to force the conversation.

If the Padres don’t add another catcher with a stronger claim to the job, it’s not hard to picture Hunt showing up to camp, hitting enough to make people uncomfortable, and pushing Campusano for the backup role behind Fermin. And if that happens, the reunion angle gets even better: the guy the Padres drafted, traded, watched bounce between orgs, and ultimately brought back… could finally make his MLB debut in the uniform where his pro career started.

For a “minor league signing,” that’s not nothing. It’s the kind of low-cost move that can quietly solve a problem before it becomes a loud one.