Player News
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Maldonado announced his retirement from baseball via his personal Instagram account Saturday, Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports. Maldonado first saw major-league action in 2011 with Milwaukee and proceeded to play the next 15 years in the big leagues with the Angels, Astros, Cubs, Royals, White Sox and Padres. He won a Gold Glove in 2017 with the Angels and played a key role with the Astros during their World Series run in 2022. Maldonado will hang up his cleats and end his career with a .203/.277/.343 slash line with 119 home runs and 384 RBI across 1,231 regular-season games in the majors.
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The Padres selected Maldonado's contract from the Arizona Complex League Padres on Tuesday. Maldonado is one of three catchers included on the team's wild-card roster, as he'll join Luis Campusano as a backup behind Freddy Fermin while Elias Diaz (oblique) recuperates. Fermin is expected to start every game during the series versus the Cubs, per Dennis Lin of The Athletic, so Maldonado is around merely as emergency depth.
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Maldonado and the Padres agreed to a minor-league contract Monday, Jeff Sanders of The San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Maldonado will return to San Diego's organization after being released Aug. 6. The catcher is expected to head to the team's facility in Arizona to ramp back up before he reports to Triple-A El Paso. He could get a call-up to the majors at some point in September if the Padres lose either Freddy Fermin or Elias Diaz to an injury.
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The Padres released Maldonado on Wednesday. Maldonado still leads the Padres in starts at catcher this season with 56, but the club acquired Freddy Fermin at the trade deadline and elected to keep Elias Diaz around over Maldonado as the backup. The soon-to-be 39-year-old has slashed only .163/.211/.280 since the start of last season and might have trouble finding work in a new organization.
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Maldonado was designated for assignment by the Padres on Thursday. Maldonado has served as San Diego's primary catcher for extended stretches in 2025, though he had begun to lose significant playing time to Elias Diaz since mid-July. The Padres acquired Freddy Fermin on Thursday to take the place of Maldonado and his .572 OPS.
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Stats
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | BB | KO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | SD | 64 | 147 | 11 | 30 | 4 | 12 | 8 | 57 | 0 | .204 |
| 2024 | CHW | 48 | 135 | 9 | 16 | 4 | 11 | 8 | 51 | 0 | .118 |





