The Padres have signed Brent Honeywell, a right-handed pitcher, to a one-year contract for the upcoming 2023 MLB season. The announcement was made by the President of Baseball Operations and General Manager, A.J. Preller, on January 6th, 2023.
Honeywell, 27 years old, previously played for Tampa Bay, where he appeared in three games for the Rays after missing three consecutive seasons due to injury (from 2018 to 2020). Honeywell was originally selected by the Rays in the second round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft from Walters State Community College in Morristown, Tennessee. He has a minor league career ERA of 3.21 across 123 appearances (with 93 starts) and made his Major League debut with Tampa Bay on April 11, 2021, in a game against the New York Yankees. During his 2021 stint with TB, he made three appearances (two starts) for an ERA of 8.31 (4 ER, 4.1 IP), and right-handed batters went 2-for-11 (.182) against him. Honeywell was the Rays Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2016, and he was selected to start for the U.S. in the 2017 SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game in Miami, where he was named the game's MVP.
Honeywell was traded to the Oakland A's in exchange for cash in November of 2021, and he split the 2022 season between the Single-A Stockton and Triple-A Las Vegas affiliations. He appeared in 13 games (with two starts) with a combined 7.08 ERA (16 ER, 20.1 IP) during his time with the A's organization. The 6-2, 200-pound pitcher struck out 24 batters and allowed eight walks. Honeywell also played for the Leones del Escogido in the Dominican Winter League following the minor league season, where he appeared in seven games (with six starts) and posted a 0.96 ERA (3 ER, 28.0 IP), a 0.64 WHIP, and 17 strikeouts against six walks allowed.
With the addition of Honeywell to the Padres roster, the team now has 39 players on their 40-man roster.
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