Padres swipe underrated speedster from Mariners in under-the-radar move

The San Diego Padres didn’t wake up and fix their roster with one minor-league signing. But Samad Taylor is the kind of under-the-radar add that hints San Diego knows exactly what it’s missing, and is trying to patch it without spending real money. Per Chris Cotillo of MassLive, the Padres signed Taylor to a minor-league deal with an invitation to Spring Training after the Mariners designated him for assignment and he elected free agency.

On paper, Taylor is easy to shrug off because he doesn’t come with a headline. He’s 27, he can bounce around the infield, and he brings the one tool the Padres have felt strangely light on in too many close games: speed that actually changes innings. Taylor hasn’t had consistent big-league action, so the stat line won’t wow you. His most meaningful MLB time came with the Royals in 2023, and the bat didn’t really show up there.

Padres make a sneaky bet on Samad Taylor that could pay off fast

The big-league sample from 2025 is ugly — and it should be mentioned plainly. In his limited MLB action for the Mariners, Taylor appeared in just four games and went 1-for-8, producing a .125/.125/.125 line and a .250 OPS with zero home runs and zero RBIs. If that’s the only lens you use, you’ll miss the actual reason the Padres made the call: his Triple-A season in Tacoma was the opposite of forgettable. Taylor slashed .296/.378/.461 with 17 homers and 44 steals. That screams “useful” if it carries over even partially in a bigger-league role. 

The reason this isn’t random is that Taylor’s minor-league track record has been loud in the exact ways San Diego should value right now: on-base ability, speed, and incremental improvement. He flashed solid Triple-A production in 2022 as well with a double-digit walk rate and 23 steals while trimming his strikeouts from the year prior, then continued to run in 2023 as he tried to carve a role.  He could never really gain much daylight in Seattle, and the roster turnover did the rest. 

This move doesn’t win the offseason at all. But it might win some nights where chaos on the bases flips the inning.