Free agent pitcher Walker Buehler has found his next home.
After bouncing from the Boston Red Sox to the Philadelphia Phillies in 2025 off the back of a legend-making World Series performance for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024, Buehler is returning to the division that made him a champion, signing a minor league contract with the San Diego Padres, according to USA Today's Bob Nightengale.
“The San Diego Padres sign Walker Buehler to minor league deal,” Nightengale wrote.
Selected by the Dodgers all the way back in 2015 as the 24th overall pick in the MLB June Amateur Draft out of Vanderbilt University, Buehler's career in Los Angeles was up and down, with his final season for the Blue and White featuring a 5.45 ERA during the regular season, his worst mark since debuting as a rookie in 2017.
Still, Buehler found his footing in the playoffs when it counted and famously threw the ninth inning of LA's deciding game against the New York Yankees on one day's rest to secure the team's first of two consecutive World Series wins. Buehler then signed a one-year, $21.05 million contract with the Red Sox, struggled mightily as both a starter and out of the bullpen, and ultimately finished out the season in Philadelphia, where he lost to the Dodgers in the NLDS.
Now signed to the Padres on a minor league deal, Buehler will soon reunite with Nick Castillianos in the San Diego dugout, reuniting with the Phillies outfielder after he made the cross-country flight following his release.
Can Buedler help the Padres take down the Dodgers? Or will he experience another season where the NL playoff hunt is dominated by LA's finest? Fans will find out soon enough.
