Jorge Luis Oña Ugarte (born December 31, 1996) is a Cuban

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

who is a free agent. He has previously played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

Career

At the

COPABE The WBSC Americas, formerly known as Pan American Baseball Confederation (COPABE, Spanish: ''Confederación Panamericana de Béisbol'', Portuguese: ''Confederação Pan-Americana de Beisebol''), is the governing body of baseball and softball with ...

18U Pan American Championships 2014, Oña hit .636 with four home runs. In July 2015 he defected from Cuba to pursue a Major League Baseball career in the United States. Oña signed with the

on July 21, 2016. He began his professional career in 2017 with the

Fort Wayne TinCaps The Fort Wayne TinCaps are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. They are located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and play their home games at Parkview Field. They won their lone Midwest Le ...

of the Single–A

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

and spent the whole season there, posting a .277 batting average with 11 home runs and 64 RBIs in 107 games. In 2018, he played for the

Lake Elsinore Storm The Lake Elsinore Storm are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. The Storm plays their home games at Lake Elsinore Diamond (Pete Lehr Field), which opened in 1994; the park se ...

where he batted .239 with eight home runs and 44 RBIs in 100 games. He played in only 25 games in 2019 for the

Amarillo Sod Poodles The Amarillo Sod Poodles, nicknamed the Soddies, are a Minor League Baseball team of the Texas League and the Double-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. They are located in Amarillo, Texas, and play their home games at Hodgetown in downtown ...

, hitting .348/.417/.539/.956 with 5 home runs and 18 RBI, due to suffering a labrum tear in his right shoulder which required surgery. On November 20, 2019, the Padres added Oña to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, and ...

to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. He was not immediately assigned to an affiliate in 2020 after the minor league season was cancelled as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. On September 7, 2020, Oña was promoted to the major leagues and made his debut that day against the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

. In his rookie year, Oña went 3-for-12 with one home run. On May 4, 2021, Oña underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow, putting him out of action for six to eight weeks. On May 9, Oña was placed on the 60-day injured list. Oña did not appear in a major league game in 2021, appearing in just 5 minor league rehab games. He was outrighted off of the 40-man roster following the season on November 19, 2021. Oña spent the 2022 season with the Double–A

San Antonio Missions The San Antonio Missions are a Minor League Baseball team of the Texas League and the Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. They are located in San Antonio, Texas, and are named for the Spanish missions around which the city was founded. ...

, playing in 69 games and batting .220/.301/.352 with 8 home runs and 25 RBI. He played in 35 games for San Antonio in 2023, hitting .218/.301/.391 with 3 home runs and 12 RBI. Following the season on December 18, 2023, Oña was released by the Padres organization.https://www.milb.com/transactions/2023-12-18

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ona, Jorge 1996 births Living people Major League Baseball players from Cuba Cuban expatriate baseball players in the United States Major League Baseball outfielders San Diego Padres players Fort Wayne TinCaps players Lake Elsinore Storm players Arizona Complex League Padres players Amarillo Sod Poodles players San Antonio Missions players