The San Diego Padres continued their busy offseason by securing the stay of utilityman Jurickson Profar.
According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the Padres re-signed Profar on a three-year deal that will earn him $21 million. The agreement was finalized on Friday, with the 27-year-old player rejecting an offer from the Boston Red Sox in order to stay in San Diego.
Profar arrived to the Padres last winter in a trade from the Oakland Athletics. Although he struggled at the start of the shortened 2020 MLB season, he ended up putting together a solid campaign while playing on five different defensive positions.
In 56 appearances last season, Profar had a career batting average of .278 while hitting seven home runs with 25 RBIs.
While there are still questions about Profar’s consistency, he reportedly had a surprising market this offseason and didn’t lack offers. The Padres were well-aware of this and decided to pull the trigger, hoping the player would build on the positive momentum and outplay his deal.
During his time in the Texas Rangers farming system, Jurickson Profar was considered one of the best prospects in baseball. His impressive performances in the minors gained him a 2012 MLB debut when he became the youngest active player in the league at the age of 19.
However, Profar’s career in the majors didn’t have the expected trajectory due to various injuries that kept him off the field. This included a nagging shoulder injury, which caused him to miss the entire 2014 and 2015 seasons.
Profar returned to action in 2016 but struggled to live up to his early hype, causing both the Rangers and the A’s to give up on him. The Padres didn’t, and it might pay off for them in a big way.
