SAN DIEGO ¨C The San Diego Padres have signed catcher Elias D¨ªaz to a one-year contract through the 2025 season with a mutual option for 2026, President of Baseball Operations and General Manager A.J. Preller announced today.

D¨ªaz, 34, split the 2024 season between the Colorado Rockies and Padres, batting a combined .265 (86-for-325) with 20 doubles, six home runs, 39 RBI and 27 runs scored in 96 games. The 6-foot-1, 223-pound backstop was released by Colorado on August 18 last season before signing a minor league deal with the Padres on August 27, and eventually having his contract purchased on September 1. His 86 total hits and 20 doubles trailed only his career high marks from 2023 with Colorado (130 hits/25 doubles). He posted a .992 fielding percentage (4 errors, 500 total chances) on the season, including a 1.000 fielding percentage (0 errors, 66 total chances) in his 12 games (7 starts) for the Padres in September. He made his Postseason debut with San Diego in Game 2 of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium after 724 regular season games, which were the 6^th-most games among all active players before their first-career playoff appearance (J.T. Realmuto¡¯s 1,005, Marcell Ozuna¡¯s 931, Whit Merrifield¡¯s 907, Josh Bell¡¯s 852 and Adam Frazier¡¯s 821).

The Maracaibo, Venezuela native has posted a .251 career average (582-for-2317) with a .304 OBP, 123 doubles, four triples, 62 home runs, 297 RBI and 242 runs scored across 724 Major League games between the Pittsburgh Pirates (2015-19), Rockies (2020-24) and Padres (2024). D¨ªaz earned his first-career National League All-Star selection in 2023 for Colorado, becoming the first Rockies catcher to make the Midsummer Classic, and earned All-Star Game MVP honors following a two-run home run off Baltimore Orioles¡¯ closer F¨¦lix Bautista in the eighth inning, lifting the NL to a 3-2 victory.