Padres add KBO hurler Wilmer Font
Sep 22, 2019; Bronx, NY, USA; Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Wilmer Font (63) pitches during the first inning against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
The Padres signed a minor league deal with right-hander Wilmer Font.
The Padres are certainly working to add depth to their pitching staff. This week, it was reported they reached an agreement with Wilmer Font on a minor league deal.
Padres, Wilmer Font Agree To Minor League Deal https://t.co/zBeHpH3PUv
— Tim Dierkes (@mlbtrpadres) January 5, 2023
The Venezuela native broke into Major League Baseball in 2012 with the Texas Rangers. It took him until 2018 to stick onto a roster for a significant amount of time. He made 19 appearances, bouncing around the Dodgers, Athletics, and Rays.
He made 48 appearances with a 4.48 ERA for the Rays, Mets, and Blue Jays in 2019. After posting a bloated 9.92 ERA in 21 games for Toronto in 2020, he was released.
Frankly, his big league career has been less-than-stellar. He owns a 5.82 ERA and -0.1 WAR over 96 career appearances. The hope is his trip overseas gave him a bit more polish.
For the last two seasons, he has pitched for the SSG Landers of the Korea Baseball Organization. There, he posted respectable numbers. Last season, he made 28 startsĀ with a 2.69 ERA. He struck out 170 batters in 184 innings. Certainly, those are All-Star numbers in the MLB. The KBO compares more to low-end Triple-A or high-quality Double-A.
In April, he tossed nine perfect innings for the Landers but was pulled as the game went into extra innings.
There has NEVER been a perfect game in the KBO's 40 year history but Wilmer Font threw 9 perfect innings for the SSG Landers today!
His team went 4-0 up in the 10th but Font did not return & the next pitcher gave up a walk resulting in a combined no-hitter. #Wowsers š„ pic.twitter.com/m9EU4WFJ64
— Baseball Brit (@BaseballBrit) April 2, 2022
While the two Asian leagues are not the same, the best-case scenario for the Padres is that Font finds similar success to Nick Martinez, who came back over after reinventing himself in Japan.
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He looks to ride the momentum of a strong 2022 season in Korea to a rejuvenated career with San Diego, either as a reliever or a back-end starter. First, he must earn a spot out of Spring Training.
As of 2020, his repertoire consisted of a four-seam fastball hovering around 95 MPH, sinker, slider, curveball, and occasionally a splitter.
Native of Escondido, CA. Lived in San Diego area for 20 years. Padres fan since childhood (mid-90s). I have been writing since 2014. I currently live near Seattle, WA and am married to a Seattle sports girl. I wore #19 on my high school baseball team for Tony Gwynn. I am a stats and sports history nerd. I attended BYU on the Idaho campus. I also love Star Wars.