Freddy Fermin was viewed as the San Diego Padres’ new starting catcher for years to come after being acquired at the 2025 trade deadline. The Friars paid the Kansas City Royals a hefty price in starting pitchers Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek to make the trade. Now, Fermin has barely proven he has value as a backup catcher.
Freddy Fermin Has Been Both a Blessing and a Curse for the Padres
Ice-Cold Offense
Entering play on Sunday, Fermin owns a .165/.253/.215 slash line to go with a dismal .468 OPS. He was splitting time with Luis Campusano behind the plate before the latter fractured his toe. Since then, he’s mostly split starts with the rookie backstop Rodolfo Durán. However, last season, Fermin had much more respectable production, slashing .251/.297/.339 in 2025. In his time with the Friars, it lowered slightly. He hit .244/.278/.339 with a .617 OPS. But after 2025, his production has ticked down incredibly. At least the Padres have club control until 2030. That gives him some time to become a productive bat.
A Defensive Marvel
Clubs across MLB are usually willing to take an offensive hit at the catcher position. As a backstop, if your defense grades well, it’s easier for teams to sign you even if your bat is below average. This was the case with the Padres’ catching tandem last year. After signing Elias Díaz and Martín Maldonado to one-year deals, the Friars didn’t have much production from their catchers.
The Padres traded for Fermin because he possessed a more potent bat. Not a potent bat, just more potent. Yet Fermin was acquired more for his ability to run a pitching staff, as well as his defensive acumen. Both are things he is phenomenal at. He ranks above average in every catching category measured by Statcast, with blocks above average (78th percentile), caught stealing above average (84th percentile), framing (69th percentile), and pop time (89th percentile).
Freddy Fermin gets the strikeout for Vasquez and then throws out a runner in the first! pic.twitter.com/l3l5uSLfbY
— Talking Friars (@TalkingFriars) April 10, 2026
The eye test tells you that just as much as the stats do. He blocks pitches every single night, constantly preventing runs from scoring. Fermin ranks third across all MLB catchers in Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) with four. He is behind only Dillon Dingler and Austin Wells, who are tied for first place with five. There’s no doubt that Fermin offers plenty of value behind the plate.
Nightmares With ABS
But there’s one area that Fermin has struggled with while catching. He has done a poor job challenging pitches via the automated ball-strike challenge system (ABS). He’s won 54 percent of his 26 challenges, ranked 29th across all MLB catchers (min. 20 challenges). But lately Fermin has had some issues.
Looking at that 54 percent, it seems that couldn’t be true, but his underlying metrics indicate that Fermin should be challenging pitches he isn’t. The backstop has a total overturns versus expected of -3.6. That metric determines how many pitches Fermin could have challenged and didn’t, as well as the ones he challenged incorrectly, and weighs them against his correct challenges. That means that, across all challenges that Fermin has made and should have made, he’s missed or lost 3.6 challenges more than he should have.
Since the start of May, Freddy Fermin has lost 8 challenges.
That’s tied for the 2nd most among catchers in that time span. pic.twitter.com/5QLZFpHopj
— Clark Fahrenthold (@CFahrenthold11) May 18, 2026
If it were only based on challenges that Fermin had made (26), he would have a +2, with 14 won and 12 lost. But he’s missed so many challenges that could have been made that the number has fallen by -5.6 challenges. That’s difficult to back up, no matter how good your defense might be.
It may be time for the Padres to simply tell Fermin to stop challenging. He’s produced plenty of value with his glove work, but his bat and challenge ability have left San Diego wanting as of late. Campusano’s hot start was cut short by his toe injury. He should be back soon enough, having been placed on the 10-day injured list on May 7. When he does, it will be a welcome sight for the Friar Faithful to see their catcher producing at the plate again.
Main Photo Credit: © Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
