2024 Missions Initial Roster Announced

Snelling, Mazur and Marsee Highlight San Antonio’s Roster

SAN ANTONIO – The San Diego Padres announced Tuesday the initial roster for the 2024 San Antonio Missions. The 28-man roster consists of 16 pitchers and 12 position players. Ten of MLB Pipeline’s Top 30 Padres prospects will begin the season in San Antonio, including Robby Snelling (#3), Adam Mazur (#7), Jakob Marsee (#9) and Ryan Bergert (#10). The initial roster consists of 21 players that have previously played for the Missions.

Highlighting the list of returning position players are Marcos Castanon, Nathan Martorella, Marsee, and Brandon Valenzuela. Each of those players enter the 2024 season in the Padres’ Top 30 Prospects list. Cole Cummings, Michael De La Cruz, and Ray-Patrick Didder all spent time with the Missions during the 2023 season. Connor Hollis, Ripken Reyes and Juan Zabala each return for their third campaign in San Antonio.

On the pitching staff, Bergert, Mazur, Snelling and Paplham highlight the returners. Each of them is ranked on the Top 30 Prospects list and appeared for the Missions in 2023. Austin Krob and Carter Loewen joined the Missions for their 2023 Texas League Postseason run. This year they will begin the year with the Missions. Raul Brito, Bobby Milacki and Jared Kollar are back after pitching in San Antonio last season. Southpaw Jason Blanchard will return for his third season at Double-A San Antonio.

Reggie Lawson is back in San Antonio for the 2024 season. The right-hander played for the Missions during the 2021 and 2022 seasons before announcing his retirement from baseball. After taking a year off, he announced the end of his retirement this past winter.

"It’s always exciting to see the next crop of prospects play here in San Antonio,” said Missions team president Burl Yarbrough. “We expect the Missions to be competitive in the first half and hopefully clinch a third straight postseason berth.”

The initial roster contains seven newcomers including a member of the Padres’ 40-man roster and a player with Major League Experience. Zach Reks will begin the year in San Antonio. Reks made his MLB debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2021 and appeared in 16 games for the Texas Rangers in 2022. Right-hander Woo-Suk Go is on the Missions initial roster. The Padres signed Go to a two-year, $4.5 million contract this offseason to come over from South Korea.

Joining Reks on the list of new position players is Robert Perez Jr. The 23-year-old outfielder spent the 2023 season with Double-A Arkansas. He signed a minor league contract with the Padres during the offseason.

Joining Go on the list of new Missions pitchers includes Omar Cruz, Yovanny Cruz, Victor Lizarraga and Jayvien Sandridge. Yovanny Cruz and Sandridge each signed minor league contracts with the Padres during the offseason. Omar Cruz was originally a member of the Padres organization before he was traded to Pittsburgh in 2021 as part of the Joe Musgrove and Joey Lucchesi deal. Lizarraga, 20, was signed by San Diego as an international free agent in 2021. He spent the 2023 season with High-A Fort Wayne.

Five players will be making their official Double-A debuts this season. Krob and Loewen pitched for the Missions during the postseason but have yet to appear in a regular season game. Lizarraga spent the 2022 season with Single-A Lake Elsinore and last year with Fort Wayne. Yovanny Cruz made it as far as High-A South Bend while he was a member of the Chicago Cubs organization. Go is in his first professional season after signing with the Padres this offseason.

The Missions initial roster spans the globe with players representing eight different countries. 18 players hail from the United States. Brito, Yovanny Cruz and De La Cruz represent the Dominican Republic. Omar Cruz and Valenzuela hail from Mexico. Go will be the first player of South Korean descent to play for the Missions since 2012. Zabala is from Colombia. Didder is from Aruba. Lastly, Perez Jr. hails from Venezuela.

The 2024 regular season gets underway on Friday, April 5th against the Amarillo Sod Poodles. The home opener is scheduled for Tuesday, April 9th against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals.

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The San Antonio Missions are the Double-A affiliate for the San Diego Padres. The 2024 season will be the 122nd professional season for the San Antonio Missions. Season seat memberships, as well as group tickets, for the 2024 season are available now. Single-game tickets are on sale now. Call 210-675-PARK to discuss pricing for season tickets, group tickets and hospitality. The Missions Box Office is cashless, and fans can purchase tickets using credit cards. For more information, call 210-675-PARK (7275) or visit samissions.com.