The Padres signed equine outfielder Nomar Mazara to a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League Baseball Spring Training, reports MassLive’s Chris Cotillo.
Mazara was eligible to sign a minors pact during the lockout because he did not end the 2021 season on a club’s 40-man roster or Major League Baseball injury list, as the Tigers released him in June.
San Diego president of baseball operations AJ Preller was a high-ranking member of the Rangers scouting team in 2011 when Texas signed Mazara as a fan from the Dominican Republic. The great potential of the left-handed hitter made him a coveted signatory, with the Rangers handing out a bonus of just under $ 5 million to secure his services.
For a time, it seemed like a great investment. Mazara posted a huge production in his early minor league seasons. He continued to impress scouts along the way, emerging as one of the sport’s top 25 overall prospects in 2016 (in Baseball America’s estimate).
He made his MLB debut as a 20-year-old in April and seemed to have a good chance of emerging as a long-term fixture in the lineup at Arlington.
Mazara hit .266 / .320 / .419 with 20 home runs in 568 plate appearances as a rookie. Those are not world numbers, but nonetheless, it was a promising debut that he showed for a player the age of a typical young college boy.
Mazara remained the Rangers’ regular right fielder for the next three seasons, but his long-awaited break simply never came. He hit 19-20 home runs each year, posting slightly below-average offensive numbers each season. For a leading batter whose glove work in the corner outfield hasn’t been rated highly, that wasn’t much more than replacement-level production.
Mazara, who is still only 26 years old, could have a good chance to break the list with a strong showing in the exhibition game. However, his days as a great prospect continue to advance in the rearview mirror as he struggles to handle Major League Baseball pitching. Over parts of six major league seasons, he’s a .255 / .315 / .418 hitter, producing about 12 points below the league average as measured by wRC +.
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