Padres Sign Aaron Brooks To Minor League Deal

The Padres have added some pitching depth, signing right hander Aaron Brooks to a minor league deal, per Chris Hilburn-Treckle of Baseball America. Brooks was a free agent after being released by the Cardinals at the end of the season.

The 32-year-old pitched 9 1/3 innings for St Louis last season, working to a 7.71 ERA in that short stint. He worked mostly as a starter at Triple-A, making 13 starts and two relief appearances for a 5.56 ERA across 59 1/3 innings.

He’s bounced around the leagues a bit since making his debut for the Royals back in 2016, getting into big league games for Oakland, St Louis and Baltimore since. All told, he owns a 6.55 ERA across 180 innings in the majors. While that’s come with a respectable 6.8% walk rate, his 16.1% strikeout rate is comfortably below league average while his 44.1 HardHit% also sits the wrong side of the league average.

Brooks throws a low-90s fastball, and mixes that in with a slider and changeup, and an occasional curveball. He’ll provide a bit of minor league pitching depth for San Diego, and should he find some success, can be controlled for at least the next three seasons.