Mark Melancon agrees to deal with Padres

The question has been out there all offseason as to whether a reunion would be in the cards between the Atlanta Braves and reliever Mark Melancon. We now have our answer. The Athletic’s Dennis Lin reports that Melancon has a deal with the San Diego Padres pending a physical.

The Braves acquired Melancon from the San Francisco Giants at the trade deadline in 2019 in exchange for minor league pitcher Tristan Beck and reliever Dan Winkler. Melancon helped solidify Atlanta’s bullpen for the stretch run that season and served as the team’s closer again in 2020. He appeared in 46 games total with the Braves posting a 3.30 ERA in 43 2/3 innings.

Melancon will turn 36 in March and despite his good results, there were some warning signs that might have scared some teams off. He saw another drop in velocity in 2020 and his whiff rate fell to 8.7 percent. Still he excelled at creating weak contact and had a ground ball rate of 61.4 percent during his time in Atlanta. He join a strong Padres pitching staff and will give them another late inning option.