Padres' Low-Risk Gamble on Ryan Weiss Will Pay Dividends In the Right Role

The path Ryan Weiss took was one that several other players have taken in a bid to prove themselves worthy of an MLB roster spot. Having failed in affiliated ball and being released by the Kansas City Royals in 2023, the right-hander had a short stint with the High Point Rockers in the independent Atlantic League, then went the foreign route, signing with the Fubon Guardians of the Chinese Professional Baseball League. He went back to the Rockers to begin 2024, but then went to the Hanwa Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization that June.

He spent all of 2025 with Hanwa as a starter, making 30 starts and pitching 178⅔ innings, posting a 2.87 ERA with a 7.7% walk rate and 28.6% strikeout rate. The KBO has been equated to a Double-A level of talent, but it also gives players a chance to work on sharpening their repertoire to be given a hard look by MLB teams.

Weiss got that opportunity in 2026 with the Houston Astros. To say it didn’t go well is an understatement; he was sent to the minors after nine appearances, then continued to struggle at Triple-A, where he was designated for assignment but stayed in the organization.

Now, the 29-year-old has another opportunity with the San Diego Padres, who signed him for one year at $1.85 million with a $4 million club option for 2028. Weiss isn’t necessarily a solution for the Padres’ lack of rotation depth, at least not at the moment. He is more of a depth option and long reliever candidate who will likely start 2027 with the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas and be available should things go askew.

Why the Padres Signed Ryan Weiss

The raw talent is there. Weiss was a fourth-round draft choice of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2018 out of Wright State. His best season in the minors came in 2019, his first full year in pro ball after 13 appearances following his draft selection. At Low-A Kane County, Weiss made 20 starts with a 3.44 ERA with a 6.2% walk rate and 17.9% strikeout rate over 96⅔ innings. He got a bump up to High-A Visalia in the hitter-friendly California League for six starts and 31⅔ innings, putting up a 5.97 ERA, a 5.7% walk rate and a 20% strikeout rate. The walk rate, especially at the lower levels of affiliated ball, was impressive, though the strikeout rate wasn’t ideal.

But then 2020 happened. The pandemic canceled the minor-league season and set back prospects by a year. In 2021, the Diamondbacks jumped Weiss up to Double-A Amarillo, where he had a 4.31 ERA in 13 games (eight starts) over 48 innings, with a sparkling 1.4% walk rate and 21.7% strikeout rate before going up to Triple-A Reno. There, he made 21 relief appearances over 30⅓ innings, registering a 13.7% walk rate and 19.6 strikeout rate. He was protected from the Rule 5 Draft and went on the 40-man roster after the season.

Then, he struggled in seven appearances at Triple-A the following year and was designated for assignment in June when the Diamondbacks needed to make room for then-recently signed left-hander Dallas Keuchel.

The Kansas City Royals claimed him off waivers and he wound up making 30 relief appearances at Triple-A, but the numbers still weren’t good, led by a 7.82 ERA. That pattern continued into 2023, which led the Royals to releasing Weiss after 12 appearances and 7.07 ERA.

Weiss then began his expedition through independent ball and foreign leagues, which led to his signing by the Astros a year ago.

He broke spring training with the Astros as a bulk reliever. In making his MLB debut, he allowed just one run over his first six innings, covering three appearances, walking two and striking out seven. It was then that things went awry; his next outing was at Coors Field, where the Colorado Rockies pounded Weiss. He entered the fifth inning with a 3-0 lead and two runners on and one out, then gave up those two runs plus six more. He would stick around for two more innings, giving up one more run, but the damage was done.

In his next four appearances, including two starts, he allowed two runs in the first three and three runs in the fourth, pitching between 2⅔ and 3⅔ innings each time. Then he had another blowup game: Following an opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Weiss was tagged for another seven runs (six earned) but went 4⅓ innings, the longest of his nine MLB appearances.

That earned him a ticket back to Triple-A. He made 13 starts in 22 outings, posting a 5.42 ERA with an 11.3% walk rate and 20.7% strikeout rate over 76⅓ innings. His MLB performance left him with a 7.10 FIP (7.63 ERA) over 26 innings, with a 15.3% walk rate and 22.9% strikeout rate. Home runs were an issue as he allowed eight in his nine games with the Astros, then nine in about three times as many innings at Triple-A.

But it was how Weiss finished the season that likely drew the Padres’ attention as much as anything he before. In four games at Triple-A, he yielded just three runs over 19⅔ innings for a 1.37 ERA, walking four and punching out 24. That was good for an opponent slash line of .229/.289/.271 with no homers.

Weiss has a five-pitch arsenal, with the four-seamer (37%) and sweeper (32.3%) being used the most during his major-league time. He also has a changeup (14.9%) and slider (12.5%), mixing in a few curves (3.4%) when he needs to keep hitters off balance. His 95.2 mph fastball was right at the MLB average of 95.3.

With at least an indication from the early part of his career that he can be extremely good at limiting walks, it will be up to pitching coach Ruben Niebla to figure out what the best pitch mix is, adding and subtracting or changing grips and usage.

Again, the Padres won’t be counting on Weiss to be a No. 5 starter or bulk reliever for the MLB roster on Opening Day, but with how the Friars’ rotation churned through true starters in 2026, the right-hander is likely to play some role on the major-league roster in 2027.

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