The San Diego Padres and outfielder/first baseman Connor Joe will agree to a contract, according to Dennis Lin of The Athletic. The right-handed batting Joe, 32, spent 2023 and 2024 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 2024, he shared first base with Rowdy Tellez on a platoon basis and saw action in the corner outfield spots. For his career, he’s hit .242/.337/.391, 35 HR, 141 RBI, and 97 OPS+ in 438 games.
Poway High’s Connor Joe is close to a deal with the Padres, per sources.
— Dennis Lin (@dennistlin) February 7, 2025
Report: Padres to Sign Connor Joe
The Pirates drafted Joe as the 39th pick overall in the 2014 June Amateur Draft. Before he played a game with Pittsburgh, however, he was traded to the Atlanta Braves in 2017 for Sean Rodriguez. Then he was passed from organization to organization like a hot potato until the San Francisco Giants called him up for an eight-game cup of coffee in 2019. After sitting out the 2020 COVID year, Joe signed with the Colorado Rockies and played there in 2021 and 2022. The Pirates reacquired Joe in a trade, surrendering minor leaguer Nick Garcia, in time for the 2023 season.
What Joe has excelled at is getting on base. In six minor league seasons, he produced an excellent .379 OBP. He steadily improved in that area, generating a .415 OBP at the Triple-A level. He continued to flash those on-base skills in the majors, which obviously piqued the Pirates’ interest in returning their one-time prospect to Pittsburgh.
Unfortunately, 2024 was a miserable year for Joe, or at least it was once the calendar turned to May. At the end of April, he was hitting .292/.370/.483. He hit a paltry .207/.304/.331 for the rest of the season. Arbitration-eligible after earning $2.125 million in 2024, the Pirates figured whatever raise Joe was due wouldn’t match the production. Thus, Joe wasn’t tendered a contract by the Pirates for 2025, becoming a free agent.
Diving Deeper
Despite his dismal 2024 season, a deeper dive into the numbers shows that Joe may still be the OBP machine San Diego was looking for. As the leadoff man in the batting order, he produced an excellent .278/.350/.426 slash line. In the bottom third of the order, from where he could set up the top of the order, he hit .250/.379/.292. However, Joe was mostly miscast by manager Derek Shelton. Joe hit most frequently from the third spot (37 times) and the fourth spot (32 times). From those slots, he hit .223/.294/.375, where he may have abandoned his on-base approach in an effort to produce runs.
Joe even hit cleanup on September 16 against a right-handed pitcher, St. Louis Cardinal Andre Pallante, against whom Joe is 1-for-9 with three strikeouts. Predictably, he was hitless in that game. A San Diego native, Joe will look forward to this latest opportunity to re-establish himself as a major league hitter. Playing for a manager who will put him in better positions to succeed, he just might.
Photo Credit: © Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
