LOS ANGELES — Trenton Brooks’ relationship with the Padres is like a lot of kids who grow up in the San Diego area.
He mentioned Trevor Hoffman first. Chase Headley was a player he followed before moving from Granite Hills High in El Cajon to the University of Nevada. He attended a few games at Qualcomm Stadium and certainly some games at Petco Park.
The 29-year-old Brooks debuted with the San Francisco Giants in May 2024 but on Monday he was in the lineup as the designated hitter for his hometown Padres.
“I used to watch Channel 4 with my dad every night watching the Padres play,” Brooks said Monday afternoon in the visiting clubhouse at Dodger Stadium. “This is a surreal moment.”
Brooks’ contract was selected Sunday after pairing 14 homers with a .311/.411/.590 batting line in 60 games for Triple-A El Paso. The left-handed-hitting Brooks had really come on as of late, too, hitting .419/.493/.806 over his last 17 games and last week logging back-to-back two-homer games in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
Brooks is a career .271/.364/.447 hitter over 3,148 minor league plate appearances.
“Just working with my hitting coaches,” Brooks said of his production so far in El Paso. “Little things, try not to reinvent the wheel or anything like that. Trying to hit the ball hard on good lines and have a good approach.”
Brooks serving as the DH on Monday pushed Gavin Sheets out to left field and Luis Arraez out to first base. With Jackson Merrill on the concussion list, the left-handed Tyler Wade started in center field, leaving the Padres on Monday with a bench of the right-handed-hitting Brandon Lockridge, Jose Iglesias, Bryce Johnson and Elias Díaz.
Johnson’s contract was selected from El Paso on Monday. He played all three outfield positions at El Paso, while Brooks played first base (39 games) and left field (8) with El Paso in a role akin to the one that Gavin Sheets has filled all year.
Starting both left-handed bats as they are on Monday is a play for more thump in left field against right-handed starters than cycling through Wade and Lockridge while waiting for Jason Heyward to return from the injured list.
“We’ll be able to use the versatility of the roster,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “You’ve got Iglesias sitting over there and we got Wadey that can obviously go and now we got Bryce who can go, we got Lock that can come off (the bench). So I think we’ll pick our spots to allow guys to show up in the most opportune times.”
Campusano sent back to El Paso
The bench, for now will no longer feature Luis Campusano, who was optioned back to Triple-A El Paso to trade spots with Johnson.
The 26-year-old Campusano was 0-for-18 across two stints in the majors, was 0-for-12 with two walks and eight strikeouts in this most recent stint and as a right-handed DH option was on the short side of a platoon at a time when the Padres had been using the DH to get the likes of Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, Luis Arraez and Fernando Tatis Jr. off their feet.
Once the catcher of the future, Campusano was hitting .313/.432/.611 with 10 homers in 37 games at Triple-A El Paso, but the Padres brought him to the majors without any intention of using him behind the plate instead of Díaz and Martín Maldonado.
Padres catchers rank 28th in the majors in fWAR (minus-0.2) and weighted runs created plus (70), 27th in OPS (.591) and 21st in defensive runs saved (-2).
A pitching staff led by Díaz and Maldonado, however, has also spun an MLB-best 12 shutouts.
Notable
- OF Jackson Merrill is recovering from his concussion away from the team in San Diego. “(Doing) better, (has an) appetite, headache gone,” Shildt said. “So gaining ground, but still a little woozy … but he’s doing better. But he’s still got some neck soreness, as you would expect, so trying to get rid of that and just trying to get him to where everything’s starting to get a little bit more than just normal.”
- To make room for Johnson on the 40-man roster, RHP Yu Darvish (elbow) was transferred to the 60-day injured list. It’s a paperwork move and not a setback as Darvish has been on the injured list since the start of the season, well over 60 days ago, and is eligible to come off the injured list when ready.
Originally Published: June 16, 2025 at 6:07 PM PDT
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