El Paso Chihuahuas 2025 Season Preview

Synopsis: The Chihuahuas will continue to be more of a taxi squad for the big league club, but the team also has three of the Padres’ Top 20 prospects. Only two of the team’s position players and seven pitchers began their careers with the organization.

Three Strikes with Mike Daly, Assistant Director of Player Development:

Luis Campusano is going back to El Paso. Recognizing that many things go into being a catcher, if there was one thing the organization would most want to see him improve upon, what would it be?

Mike Daly: Luis continues to grow as a player and is part of our plans for the future. Putting one specific thing in front of him, or any player, is tough.

Campy is a true two-way player, and we are looking forward to him getting going with his bat in El Paso and continuing to develop as a front-line catcher. So again, there isn’t just one thing because Campy isn’t a one-dimensional player. He has a chance to impact the game on both sides of the ball, and we think he will do that.

Last year, you started to put Tirso Ornelas at first base while continuing to get him work at all three outfield spots. Do you see that continuing this season?

Mike Daly: I think versatility has real value, especially with a player of Tirso’s caliber who can hit, control the strike zone, and improve every year. He has logged a lot of at-bats at the upper levels, and he continues to produce.

As a player progresses, defense at their primary position is always important, but you also have to see where they fit on the major league level. A player who can only play one position rarely breaks into the big leagues, and we will provide Tirso with as many opportunities as possible.

Who would stand out among the El Paso roster if you had to pick someone?

Mike Daly: [Laughs] You are putting me on the spot! What stands out on the El Paso team is that we are trying to assemble several players to support the major league team. Some other organizations might not be in the same position as the Padres, since we are trying to compete for a championship.

What is really good about our Chihuahuas team is that many players came into camp and showed what they are capable of, and there were some tough decisions in the end. We think there will be some other opportunities during the season where they will have a chance to demonstrate what they can do. Hopefully, all of them will continue to play well.

2025 Projected Lineup:

1B Connor Joe        OF Tirso Ornelas*

2B Clay Dungan*     OF Oscar Gonzalez

3B Mike Brosseau    OF Yonathan Perlaza*

SS Mason McCoy     UT Tyler Wade*

C Luis Campusano

DH/C Brett Sullivan* 

* indicates left-handed or switch-hitter

RHSP Ryan Bergert   LHRP Austin Davis

RHSP Jared Kollar     RHRP Francis Pena #

LHSP Wes Benjamin RHRP Kevin Kopps

RHSP Stephen Kolek LHRP Tom Cosgrove

LHSP Austin Krob      RHRP Ethan Routzahn

MadFriars’ Top 20 Prospects in El Paso: RHP Ryan Bergert (#10), OF Tirso Ornelas (#15), and RHP Francis Pena (#17)

Catch a Rising Star: Ryan Bergert, with his riding fastball, or a fastball with good induced vertical break for the statheads out there, has always been one of the Padres’ more intriguing pitching prospects. When he’s on, he can pound his fastball in the zone, and pair it with both a traditional slider and a quality sweeper. After a brutal 2023 campaign, Bergert looked great in spring as he locked in a better arm slot and showed feel for a better pitch mix. If he starts out strong, he could be one of the first players up when a rotation spot opens.

Starting Pitching: Bergert is the one with rookie eligibility, but Stephen Kolek could be a major find for the big club. Last year, he jumped to the big leagues after the Padres selected him in the Rule 5 draft. He only posted a 39:12 strikeout-to-walk ratio and a 5.21 ERA in 46.2 relief innings, but as a starter, he will be able to throw a few more pitches than he did coming out of the pen. Kolek relies on a sinker and cutter; how well those will move in the Sun City is an open question. … Jared Kollar was dominant with the Double-A Missions last year, putting up a 3.65 ERA in 83 innings, but didn’t have quite the same success in 47.2 innings after a promotion to El Paso. He works from an unorthodox, directly over-the-top delivery with a deceptive four-seam/cutter combination. He will probably need something that he can throw inside to right-handers more effectively. … Wes Benjamin, 31, returns to the States after three years with the KT Wiz in Korea. The left-hander had previously been in the Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox organizations and pitched in the big leagues with the Rangers. In three years in Korea, he had a 3.74 ERA in 406.1 innings. He originally worked with a cutter/curve repertoire, but has added other breaking balls to the mix. Like Kolek, generating movement in the altitude of El Paso could be a challenge.

Bullpen: Like the big league club, El Paso’s bullpen features a mix of different looks and profiles. Lefty Tom Cosgrove returns to El Paso, where he’s spent parts of four seasons while shuttling back-and-forth to San Diego. His three-quarters sweeper/sinker combination is tough on lefties when he’s on. … Ethan Routzahn, an undrafted free agent in 2021, offers an even more unusual delivery from the right side, helping him to a career goundball rate well north of 50%. … Big lefty Austin Davis led the 2024 squad with 14 saves while managing a 3.40 ERA across 47.2 innings while relying on heavy sinkers. … While Francis Pena started the year on the IL, he is expected to be out to El Paso quickly. The lanky Dominican was the fastest riser in the system last year, unleashing his upper-90s power sinker from a three-quarters arm slot as he rode all the way from Fort Wayne to El Paso. His sinker is a plus pitch, but he’s also going to need to throw something else, which currently is a cutter. … Sean Reynolds opened the year on the big league injured list, but he’ll wind up needing ramp-up time with the Chihuahuas. The 6-foot-8 Californian has struggled to find the plate at times but was electric in San Diego with a 0.82 ERA in 11 innings and a 21/5 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Reynolds can throw in the upper 90s and touch 100 mph, but last year, the game-changer for him was his ability to throw his slider for both called and swinging strikes.

Catching: Luis Campusano has as much physical talent as any catcher on the Padres’ 40-player roster. The 2017 second-rounder simply must translate that talent to performance more consistently. He opened last season as the Padres’ starting catcher, but lost his job to Kyle Higashioka and the backup spot to Elias Díaz before finishing the year in El Paso. He’s returned to a more standard setup with his batting stance, and the Padres believe that he has made strides in his ability to run a pitching staff and handle the physical demands behind the plate. Although it feels like it has been around forever, Campusano is only 26. … Brett Sullivan returns to El Paso for his fourth run. His profile is emblematic of what this squad is about: a player with some major league experience who can be called up and relied on to provide some value off the bench. When it’s on, Sullivan has a clean left-handed stroke that can offer a solid at-bat and spray the ball to all fields. He has more value as a player who plays multiple positions, third, first, and left field, as opposed to being locked into catching.

Infield: With long-time Chihuahua Matthew Batten moving onto the Atlanta organization, the infield will be headlined by Mason McCoy, and Clay Dungan. McCoy, who manager Pete Zamora called as good a defensive shortstop as anyone in the major leagues, was added to the 40-player roster and provides the big league club with depth if there are any significant injuries on the infield. The key for McCoy will be to continue having useful at-bats. Last year, he started to hit in the second half of the year in El Paso, which led to a shot in the majors. … The left-handed hitting Dungan can play all over the field and will find his way into the lineup at some position. Last year, the Indiana native posted a .796 OPS in 93 games for El Paso.

Outfield: Although Tirso Ornelas was signed out of Tijuana in 2016, he is still only 25, and he and Bergert are the youngest players on the roster. Ornelas posted back-to-back strong offensive years, but he still needs to get the ball in the air more consistently. His 41.8% ground ball rate is still a bit high, but he is on the right path. …  Connor Joe, 32, a San Diego native, has five years in the big leagues with the San Francisco Giants, Colorado Rockies, and Pittsburgh Pirates and should be the first one up if the Jason Heyward experiment in left field doesn’t work. He had a .917 OPS in Spring Training in 48 plate appearances and was one of the last cuts from the big league squad. He’ll split his time between first base and left field. … Yonathan Perlaza joined the parade of players coming out of the KBO and signing with the Padres this winter. The one-time Cubs farmhand has some serious power as a switch-hitter and will provide length to the Chihuahuas lineup.

On the Spot: Luis Campusano
After a strong cameo in San Diego in 2023, where he posted a slash line of .319/.356/.491, Campusano fell far in 2024, losing his Opening Day spot in the lineup and his place on the team as the Padres sent him down to El Paso at the end of the year. The organization highly values not only defense but also demands a certain amount of pre-game preparation that he hasn’t been able to demonstrate on a consistent basis. At 26, this is his last minor league option year.

Under the Radar: Kolek was a Rule 5 selection by the organization last year from the Seattle Mariners and was able to stick with the team, along with some time on the injured list, for the entire season. In the spring, he posted solid numbers as a starter, and the organization might want to get him stretched out more for that role. The last time he was a full-time starter was in 2022. He had a strong initial outing and, along with Bergert, will probably toe the rubber for San Diego sometime in 2025.