Categories: News

Former Phillie Jorge Alfaro traded from Marlins to Padres

One of the pieces from the J.T. Realmuto trade has once again been dealt. Per Craig Mish of the Miami Herald, the Miami Marlins are trading catcher Jorge Alfaro to the San Diego Padres.

Jorge Alfaro is heading to San Diego. (Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire)

Alfaro, who went to Miami from the Philadelphia Phillies along with Sixto Sanchez and Will Stewart in February 2019, slashed .252/.298/.386 across three seasons with the Marlins, down from the .749 OPS he posted as a member of the Phillies.

Of course, Alfaro’s selling points were always his arm and his raw power, but the latter never quite came into fruition during his time with the Marlins. Alfaro hit 25 home runs across 253 games with the team, striking out at a clip above 30% each season. While he struggled to the tune of -11 defensive runs saved as a catcher in Miami, Alfaro did catch 33% of would-be base-stealers, including an impressive 43% in 2021.

Alfaro has ties to San Diego’s current president of baseball operations and general manager A.J. Preller. The catcher signed a deal with the Texas Rangers in 2010, then at 16 years old, when Preller was a member of the Rangers’ front office. Alfaro was eventually traded to Philadelphia in the 2015 Cole Hamels deal.

In San Diego, Alfaro will compete for playing time with top-50 prospect Luis Campusano, Victor Caratini and Austin Nola — of course, the brother of Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola, a 2018 NL Cy Young finalist with Alfaro as his backstop in the last season before Alfaro was traded.

The Padres will receive cash or a player to be named later in return for Alfaro, according to AJ Cassavell, MLB.com’s Padres beat reporter.