Padres Option McCoy, Jacob to Triple-A El Paso in Spring Cuts

Mason McCoy hit .171 in Cactus League play and Alek Jacob couldn't escape trouble in either the World Baseball Classic or spring training. The San Diego Padres made the math simple, optioning both to Triple-A El Paso as part of a nine-player roster reduction that trimmed their Major League camp to 44 players ahead of Opening Day.

McCoy, 30, went 7-for-41 with a .495 OPS across his spring audition, numbers that did him no favors in a competition for one of the final roster spots. The gap between his glove and his bat has always been the defining tension of his career: defense is the calling card, but 43 career big-league games across the Padres and Blue Jays at a .181 average and .494 OPS tell the offensive story. He broke a pinky finger when Xander Bogaerts' injury first opened the door for him, costing him the chance to showcase the elite glove that earned him the opportunity. After being sent back to El Paso following that stint, he turned in one of his best offensive seasons at the minor-league level, posting a .354 on-base percentage and an .804 OPS. The Padres clearly still see enough to keep him around: they have already re-signed him to a minor-league contract for the 2026 season.

Jacob's path to El Paso was carved out by a rough run that started before Cactus League play even began. Representing Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic, he allowed two runs across 2.1 innings for a 7.71 ERA. He returned to spring training and immediately compounded the problem, surrendering two earned runs in just two-thirds of an inning on Friday. The 16th-round pick in 2021 had posted a 5.13 ERA across 33.1 big-league innings last season for San Diego, and the Padres need more consistency from him before the shuttle ride back to the majors becomes a shorter trip.

Seven other players were reassigned to minor-league camp: left-handed pitcher Marco Gonzales, right-handed pitcher Triston McKenzie, catcher Rodolfo Durán, infielder Francisco Acuña, outfielder Nick Schnell, and infielders/outfielders Nick Solak and Pablo Reyes.

Gonzales had the roughest spring of anyone in that group. The 34-year-old left-hander joined San Diego on a minor-league deal in late January and was competing for a rotation spot, but he allowed 16 earned runs across 13.1 innings for a 10.80 ERA. The former first-round pick in 2013 carries a career 4.16 ERA across 926.2 big-league innings, which makes the spring number an aberration rather than a profile, but it was still enough to end his rotation candidacy.

The broader El Paso picture reflects an organizational model that leans heavily on the Chihuahuas as a ready-supply depot rather than a pure development environment. Jacob and McCoy fit squarely into that function, providing the Padres with tested, interchangeable depth pieces within driving distance of San Diego's roster needs.