The San Diego Padres have reportedly signed utility man Mike Brosseau to a minor league deal. Does the former Rays playoff hero have a role on the 2025 Padres?

Mike Brosseau is a San Diego Padre.

The former Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers utility man spent 2024 in the Mets’ minor league system, slashing .276/.368/.441 (.809 OPS) for a 114 wRC+.

Brosseau played all over the diamond in his major league career, and that remained the case in 2024 with Triple-A Syracuse, seeing playing time at first base, second base, third base, and left field. Brosseau improved his contact quality in the Mets’ system, bringing his hard-hit rate up to 37.3% from a paltry 20.8% in his MLB time in 2023. 

Brosseau has consistently been someone with traditional splits, as he has posted a 117 wRC+ in his career against left-handed pitching compared to an 87 wRC+ against same-handed pitchers.

Most of his power has come against left-handed pitching in his career, as 17 of his 26 career home runs have come against southpaws. He could be the perfect kind of complementary piece for a team that slashed .239/.310/.379 against left-handed pitching in 2024. Brosseau has been an average baserunner throughout his career as well, as his 2023 sprint speed ranked in the 57th percentile. 

Mike Brosseau reportedly signed a deal with the Pads

Here he is hitting a Nuke at Petco

That’ll Play!pic.twitter.com/8mse1r4zAX

— Devine Sports Gospel (@DevineGospel) December 28, 2024

As with most utility players, Brosseau’s strength comes in his positional versatility, even if he ranks as an average to below-average defender at most positions he has played. Brosseau has seen most of his playing time at first base in recent seasons, and with the Padres lacking a clear-cut option at first base, Brosseau could form part of a possible platoon there with a left-handed hitting option. However, there is also the question of his roster fit, as the Padres have a very similar player on their roster in Eguy Rosario.

Rosario exhausted his final option year in 2024 and has plenty left to prove at the MLB level. Rosario has youth and positional flexibility in his favor, as he has played more middle infield compared to Brosseau in recent seasons. However, Rosario has some of the most pronounced platoon splits in baseball, as he has a career 182 wRC+ against southpaws but a meager 23 wRC+ against right-handed pitching.

Brosseau also has one minor league option remaining going into the 2025 season, so if he secures a 40-man roster spot, he will be able to be optioned to Triple-A El Paso should the team need reinforcements elsewhere on the roster midseason. 

There is no such thing as a bad minor league deal, and Mike Brosseau could offer the Padres a solid utility option all over the diamond with some thump against left-handed pitching.

Diego Garcia

A born and raised San Diegan, Diego Garcia is a lifetime Padres fan and self-proclaimed baseball nerd. Diego wrote about baseball on his own site between 2021-22 before joining the East Village Times team in 2024. He also posts baseball content on his YouTube channel “Stat Nerd Baseball”, creating content around trades, hypotheticals, player analyses, the San Diego Padres, and MLB as a whole.

A 2024 graduate of San Diego State, Diego aims to grow as a writer and content creator in the baseball community.