Padres situation at catcher listed as glaring weakness for 2025 campaign

The Padres are looking to put together another winning season in 2025. They have the star power, but in order to compete with the Dodgers in the NL West, they need to be strong at every position. As it stands going into a new campaign, they are glaringly weak at catcher.

Over the last two seasons, San Diego has seen a pair of former Yankees find a second wave of success behind the dish at Petco Park. Gary Sánchez and Kyle Higashioka each provided a spark to the club that left fans content with how productive their catchers were, either on offense or on defense. With both of those players long gone from the Padres, this team suddenly needs another 'out-of-nowhere' catcher for 2025, or else they will be in a really bad spot this summer.

Padres situation at catcher listed as glaring weakness for 2025 campaign

As it stands, the Friars have Luis Campusano and Brett Sullivan as their two MLB catchers. Campusano played 91 games with San Diego last season and he was not very impressive. He displayed below average defense and struggled at the plate, registering a .642 OPS and ending the year going 8-for-his-last-49 (.163).

Sullivan is not much better of an option. A career minor-leaguer, Sullivan will be 31 years old in February, so it doesn't seem like he will ever develop into an everyday catcher at the MLB level. He muscled 17 home runs last year with Triple-A El Paso, but his power has yet to translate into success on the big stage. In 40 games with the Padres, he has just two homers and a .206 batting average.

What could San Diego do to make things more solidified behind the plate? AJ Preller may connsider a potential trade with Campusano, but Padres fans cannot expect much of a return after he was optioned to Triple-A in September, even if the front office attempts to move him.

Perhaps re-signing former All-Star Game MVP Elias Díaz to a short-term deal wouldn't hurt. Before the Rockies placed him on waivers, Díaz was a .270 hitter with Colorado. He didn't get much time to acclimate with the Padres, slashing .190 in a dozen games.

Díaz could be an okay placeholder for the Padres' problems at catcher as they allow for top prospect Ethan Salas to continue growing in the minors. Salas will be 19 years old in June, so he still has a lot of time to progress in the farm system before sniffing a roster spot on the Padres. However, if he can put everything together at a rapid rate, we may see him in San Diego by the time he is 20 years old. Elias Díaz, if brought back, could platoon Campusano until that happens, although it may not be most ideal.

San Diego is in a tricky spot at catcher going into 2025. There are plenty of All-Star-level players on the current roster, but a huge blemish at one of the most important positions could wind up hurting the Friars in the long run. The offseason isn't over just yet, so maybe Preller has an idea in place to fill this void.