The Marlins picked the right veteran Chris Paddack for the assignment, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The team has yet to officially announce the move or a related transaction, but MLB.com’s Christina DeNicola reports that the reliever. William Kempner will be recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville. It is Kempner’s first major league promotion. He will be making his MLB debut when he enters the game.
It’s a hook for the 30-year-old Paddack, who signed a one-year, $4MM deal to return to the organization that originally drafted him (but traded him to the Padres in a 2016 trade for relief. Fernando Rodney). The hope was that Paddack could provide consistent innings following the offseason trades Ryan Weathers (to the Yankees) and Edward Cabrera (in the Cubs). He looked good this spring (two runs, 13 innings pitched) but lost seven regular season games against Miami (six of them starts).
Paddack completed five innings just once in his return to the Marlins organization: a quality start against his former Tigers teammates in Detroit (six innings, two runs). He allowed at least two runs in less than five innings while taking the mount, including three appearances that saw him score five, seven and eight runs apiece. His time with the Fish would end with a 7.63 ERA, an 18.5% strikeout rate and a 6.8% walk rate in 30 2/3 innings.
A former top prospect, Paddack started with a 3.33 ERA in 140 2/3 innings for the Padres in 2019. He’s been a Rookie of the Year finalist, if not the winner, in multiple seasons, but he’s been in contention Pete Alonso53-homer start, Michael Soroka174 2/3 innings of ball 2.68 ERA, Fernando Tatis Jr. again Bryan Reynolds; as good as it was in Paddack’s debut, he didn’t even get a low vote.
Injuries have dogged Paddack over the years. He missed time with a UCL sprain in 2021 and then underwent a second Tommy John surgery — the first was a hope — and the twins in 2022. His 2024 season was cut short due to arm strain.
In 471 2/3 innings since his first disastrous campaign, Paddack has posted a 5.23 ERA. He has always shown strong command but has never missed at-bats at the level he did as a rookie. He’s also homer-friendly a lot, averaging 1.55 round-trippers in nine frames from 2020-26.
It’s fair to wonder how many more rotation opportunities Paddack will get. He struggled several times in Minnesota, and the Tigers demoted him to the bullpen shortly after starting seven games last summer following an acquisition campaign. The Marlins, apparently, are moving forward in fast fashion.
Maybe another club with a slew of injuries in the rotation will plug Paddack into their starting five when he is definitely released, but other clubs will be interested in what he might look like as a reliever. When Paddack returned from his second Tommy John procedure with the Twins late in the 2023 season, he pitched 8 2/3 innings between the regular season and the postseason, allowing three runs with a 14-to-1 K/BB ratio. He looked very dominant in the postseason, and his 93 mph four-seamer averaged 95.5 mph. He got hit hard out of Detroit’s bullpen last year, but they were using him as a big man, not the shortstop role he excelled in during that short, post-surgery outing with the Twins.
In the meantime, the Marlins will have five days to trade Paddack or release him. (They may also put him on full waivers, but he will certainly resign due to his salary and hardship, and Paddack has enough time of service to refuse a direct assignment while keeping his guaranteed salary remaining.) It is possible that they will find a taker willing to pay some portion of that guarantee, but the most common outcome in this situation is release. The Marlins will retain a share of that $4MM salary. The new team will owe Paddack the major league minimum for any time spent on the big league roster.
As for the 24-year-old Kempner, he came to the Marlins in the Jan. 2025 which sent the international bonus pool space back to the Giants. The 2022 third-round pick had a big season in the minors last year between High-A, Double-A and Triple-A, compiling a 2.26 ERA with a 33.6% strikeout rate in 67 2/3 frames of relief. The command is a clear mistake, as Kempner walks 14.1% of his opponents on the road.
Kempner was selected to the 40-man roster back in November, thus protecting him from December’s Rule 5 Draft. He got off to a rough start in ’26, with a 6.46 ERA in his first 15 1/3 frames at Triple-A. However, he fanned 47.9% of opponents and allowed a 63.8% contact rate. Kempner sits at 95.5 mph with his heater and pairs it with a low-80s slider. He has a cutter that is rarely used on the third pitch but is primarily a righty pitch.
Kempner is giving Miami a new arm in the next few days. Paddack’s place in the rotation will be up for grabs this weekend. De Nicola list Braxton Garrett and high hopes Robby Snelling such as options to enter circulation. Both pitchers with ERAs under 2.00 have strong strikeout rates (Snelling especially) but low walk rates in their first small start in Jacksonville.
