Adrian Morejon’s Pure Dominance Is Being Overshadowed By Mason Miller

[Cade Lalim]

The San Diego Padres sit right in the middle of the Wild Card mix and have been on a surge recently. It’s a good thing that they decided not to sell at the trade deadline, and their decision to hold onto Adrian Morejon looks especially prescient. The Padres might have the best one-two punch to end ballgames between the lethal duo of Morejon and phenomenal closer Mason Miller. The similarities between the pair are actually a lot closer than you may think.

Everyone is fascinated with Miller, who’s recorded 30 saves and has pitched to a 0.88 ERA and 0.84 ERA through 51.1 innings. He’s been an electric watch with the combo of his fastball averaging 101.5 mph and the fact that he’s striking out opponents at an incredible 47.4% rate. While Miller leads all qualified relievers with 3.1 fWAR, Morejon sits just two places back with 2.3 fWAR (Louis Varland divides the pair with 2.4 fWAR).

Morejon, alongside Miller, is having an incredible season and honestly might be every bit as good as hit superstar teammate. The 2025 All-Star has a 2.76 ERA and 1.09 WHIP over 65.1 innings spanning 56 games.

What's Behind Adrian Morejon's Utter Dominance In 2026?

If you’ve just happened to stumble across Morejon’s dominance this season, 2026 is actually the third straight season where he’s been one of the better relievers in the game. After making his major league debut during the 2019 season, Morejon posted inconsistent results through the 2023 season due to injuries (including Tommy John surgery in 2021) while also seeing time as both a reliever and starting pitcher.

Now, he's settled in as one of the best high-leverage arms in the game. Morejon features a power-sinker that has averaged 99.5 mph and he goes to the pitch 45% of the time. His other three pitches are split pretty fairly consisting of a changeup, slider, and four-seam fastball.

His sinker/four-seam duo has been really good this season, earning 10 run value which places him in the 88th percentile. Morejon’s fastball has seen better results than his sinker, even though he’s thrown the pitch over 300 times less. Opponents are hitting just .175 against the offering to go along with a .200 xwOBA. The sinker has also been effective with batters posting a .240 batting average and .293 xwOBA against the pitch.

Aside from his primary heaters, Morejon throws a pretty nasty changeup that has accounted for 5 run value landing him in the 92nd percentile. It’s his second-most-used offering at a 22% rate and has limited batters to just a .177 batting average and a .147 xwOBA. Morejon’s slider is a nice change of pace to throw into the mix, but it's certainly his least trustworthy offering.

A good reliever will always do a good job limiting hard-contact and keeping the baseball on the ground, and unsurprisingly, Morejon excels in those categories thanks to his aforementioned arsenal. Batters have only managed to make hard-contact 33.1% of the time with an average exit velocity of just 87 mph -- both marks rank above the 84th percentile.

He also has really good command of the baseball, only issuing walks at an excellent 6.7% rate. Considering Morejon strikes out 29.9% of opponents -- largely the result of elite chase (37.8%) and whiff (34.3%) rates -- it's safe to say his pristine command is yet another blue-chip tool in his pocket.

Having not one but two superstar relievers is a rarity in today's game, but the Padres certainly have their dynamic duo in Morejon and Miller. Come October, that tandem will be front and center in the team's efforts to finally win it all.

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