With a need for arms in the rotation for the coming season, is Adrian Morejon a possibility for the Padres?

The San Diego Padres need starting pitching for the 2025 season.

At this point, the Padres have Dylan Cease, Yu Darvish, and Michael King at the top of the rotation. Joe Musgrove will miss the entire 2025 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery a few weeks ago. Darvish is coming off an injury-riddled season, and both King and Cease will be pitching in the last year of their contract.

Beyond this trio and the injured Musgrove, the Padres do have internal options.

Bryan Hoeing, Matt Waldron, Randy Vasquez, and Jhony Brito all started games in 2024. Each can eat innings for the Padres, but nothing is guaranteed. Each man is a question mark moving forward.

There is another option, as a former top prospect in the Padres system is capable of starting. Or, at least, he once was.

Adrian Morejon will be 26 next season and is coming off a year where he put up a 2.83 ERA in 60 games and 63.2 innings pitched for San Diego. It was his most successful year in the majors. The lefty continuously touches 98-99 mph with his fastball and is blessed with multiple breaking pitches that grade out as average or better.

The issue with Morejon is durability. Can he survive the vigors of a major league season?

The 63.2 innings he posted in 2024 is less than two innings short of his career-high for a season. If Morejon were to be stretched out to start, the reality is he wouldn’t be able to complete the entire MLB season. At some point, his innings would need to be trimmed. That isn’t exactly an enticing thing for the Padres, but the southpaw has a lot of upside.

When Morejon signed with the Padres in July of 2016 for $11 million, he was considered a sure thing. Morejon was the No.2 rated prospect on the MiLB pipeline’s international prospects list.

The Padres envisioned Morejon as a starter, and he did that for each of his three minor league seasons. The teenager struggled with nagging injuries in that time, only amassing 43 starts in his first three minor league seasons. He flashed a lot of potential, recording better than a strikeout per inning pitched. The lefty also only gave up 13 homers in over 160 innings pitched as a teenage starter in the minors. There was an upside here.

Morejon debuted for the Padres in 2019 at the age of 20. He threw eight innings, starting two games for the Padres. The COVID-shortened 2020 season is when Morejon stuck with San Diego. He made the leap to the majors despite never pitching higher than Double-A while in the minors. In that 2020 season, Morejon went 2-2 with a 4.66 ERA. The Cuban pitcher started four games and pitched in nine total ball games for the Padres.

The 2021 season was to be Morejon’s breakout year. He was projected as a starter heading into spring. Morejon broke camp in the rotation but only threw 4.2 innings before injuring his pitching elbow. Tommy John surgery killed his 2021 season. Morejon returned for the 2022 season but has only made one start (in 2024) since then. He’s spent all of his time in the majors since the injury as a relief pitcher.

Is it time to see if Morejon can handle the workload?

That is a big gamble. Adrian Morejon is under contract through the 2026 season. That is two years of control. He is serviceable right now as a relief pitcher. One train of thought is not to mess with a good thing. He is earning his paycheck as a major league relief pitcher. The other thought is- what if?

What if he can channel his stuff into being a six or seven-inning pitcher? What if he responds to the challenge and is motivated to be a force in the rotation?

Anything can happen in the game of baseball. The arm and the stuff are there for Morejon. But does he have a mind for it?

Getting batters out three times in the same game can be difficult for some pitchers. They thrive in a relief role instead. Many former starting pitching prospects have gone on to long, successful major league careers as a reliever. Morejon may just be cut out for that kind of work. Who knows.

When it comes down to it, Morejon may slide into the rotation in 2025 at some point.

The Padres will explore every option in a quest for a World Title. Morejon may be unable to make 32 starts and eat up 180 innings in 2025, but he could be a solid contributor. There are a lot of unanswered questions heading into the 2025 season. In time, as free agents are signed and trades are made, we will get a clearer idea of what the Padres have in store for Adrian Morejon. In whatever capacity they use him, there is tremendous upside.

James Clark

James was born and raised in America’s Finest City. He is a passionate baseball fan with even more passion towards his hometown Padres. Editor-In-Chief of EastVillageTimes.com. Always striving to bring you the highest quality in San Diego Sports News. Original content, with original ideas, that’s our motto. Enjoy.