Top 10 Moments of the 2025 Missions Season
Published on December 9, 2025 under Texas League (TL)
San Antonio Missions News Release
In the wacky world of Minor League Baseball, it's impossible to predict what will happen next. The 2025 San Antonio Missions' season showcased that through every turn, both on and off the field.
From cats at the Wolff for the first time, to walk-offs seemingly every other day, let's take a look back at the ten most memorable moments of the 2025 season before the calendar turns to 2026.
10. Old Friends Stop By
The month of May graced us with three major league rehabs, including those of two former Missions. Top Gun night saw Jackson Merrill, the 2024 Silver Slugger and National League Rookie of the Year runner-up, fly back to the Wolff for the first time since his meteoric rise from San Antonio to stardom. Merrill scored twice across two games and made everyone feel like he had never left.
Towards the end of the month, Matt Waldron returned and brought Bryan Hoeing with him for a week-long stint in San Antonio. The knuckleballer made a pair of starts while Hoeing tossed two separate scoreless innings. Hoeing joined an episode of Curves, Cannons and Bells, and Waldron shared some thoughts about being back in the Alamo City.
9. Flying Hoffy
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...Wyatt Hoffman gliding through the air to make an incredible diving catch on August 23 against the Amarillo Sod Poodles. Hoffman served as the ultimate utility man for the Missions, playing a game at every position except catcher. The position player did in fact pitch four times in a mop-up role. How could he not? He is, of course, the son of Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman.
8. Can't Spell "Triple" Without "Rip"
A trip to Amarillo will excite any hitter because home runs could be hit from the hotel. Ripken Reyes, however, decided to hustle for his hits back in mid-June. Reyes tripled three times across two games, which included becoming the first player at the Double-A level dating back to 2005 to hit bases-clearing triples in back-to-back games. He added a home run that series and increased his total to 10 RBIs, leading to his first ever Texas League Player of the Week Award.
7. A Puuurrrfect Night
After years of watching dogs have all the fun at ballparks across the country, cats wanted to pounce on the party. For the first time ever, the Missions hosted Take Meowt to the Ballgame, welcoming cats to the Wolff on Wednesday, June 18. In partnership with San Antonio Pets Alive!, cats were available for adoption, and those that came with their owners immediately ruled over their new kingdom. That Simba cam video garnered 1.9 million views on Instagram and 288 thousand on Tik Tok, giving felines a viral moment.
6. There's No Place Like Home
Down 5-0 in the final home game of the season, it seemed like fans were in for an anticlimactic goodbye. The Missions mounted a comeback and cut the deficit to 5-4, but Corpus Christi Hooks closer Manuel Urias got the first two outs of the ninth inning quickly. Down to their final out, San Antonio sent Albert Fabian to the plate, and the lefty smoked a ball 102.2mph off the bat 384ft to right field, tying the game and sending it to extra innings.
Each team scored in the tenth, so the game trickled into the 11th inning. Jose Geraldo, better known as "Kraken," kept the Hooks off the board to set up a magical moment. On a full count, Ryan Jackson blooped a single to shallow right field, and ghost runner Devin Ortiz stormed home to complete the largest comeback of the season. It was a fitting way to wrap up a 2025 home campaign that saw 10 walk-off wins by the Missions. More on that in a second...
5. Welcome to Double-A
Miguel Mendez, the No. 5 prospect in the San Diego Padres' organization according to MLB Pipeline, earned the promotion from High-A Fort Wayne and made quite the entrance on August 7. In his first Double-A start, Mendez faced the eventual Texas League Champions, the Springfield Cardinals. The Cardinals' high-powered offense did not phase Mendez, who struck out 11 batters. With that sparkling debut, Mendez simultaneously set the high in strikeouts for any Missions' pitcher in 2025 and sent shockwaves throughout the league alerting folks that despite a flurry of trades, the Padres' system still had plenty of talent.
4. So Long, Farewell
Speaking of trades, you can't discuss the 2025 Missions season without talking about July 31, better known as baseball's trade deadline. The Padres making trades that include Missions is nothing new-just ask Nathan Martorella, Jakob Marsee and Robby Snelling among others from last year. However, few could have seen what happened on July 31 coming when four Missions were all traded on the same day.
The wave began in the morning, when news broke of a blockbuster sending top Padres prospect Leo De Vries, Missions Henry Baez and Braden Nett, as well as former Mission Eduarniel Nùñez to the Athletics for Mason Miller and J.P. Sears. Baez was the reigning Minor League Pitcher of the Year for the Padres, had just won the Texas League Pitcher of the Month in June, and he led the Texas League in ERA with the Missions. Nett retired all nine batters he faced in his last start and had been stellar all season, climbing to No. 3 on the Padres' prospect rankings according to MLB Pipeline. Nùñez had become one of three relievers to start the year in San Antonio before debuting with the Padres in the majors.
Right as the team began arriving at their clubhouse at Riders Field in Frisco, word got out that catcher Brandon Valenzuela was being sent to the Toronto Blue Jays for infielder Will Wagner. Valenzuela led the Missions in home runs (12) and RBIs (46) at the time of the trade. Valenzuela also had four walk-off hits for San Antonio as he became one of San Antonio's most clutch hitters since 2023.
Valenzuela, Baez and Nett all came down to the clubhouse to say goodbye to the team, and during that meeting, reliever Tyson Neighbors left to take a call. On the other side of the phone was the alert that Neighbors was one of six prospects being traded to the Baltimore Orioles for Ryan O'Hearn and Ramon Laureano. Neighbors had not allowed a run in 13 innings during July, and the Texas native who grew up about an hour northeast of Frisco recorded his first Double-A save two days earlier against the RoughRiders.
Saying goodbye to four key producers created a somber mood among the team for a bit, which manager Luke Montz spoke about in his reaction that day, but it also led to the arrival of several exciting players from High-A Fort Wayne such as Ryan Jackson, Braedon Karpathios and Miguel Mendez. Clearly, Missions fans must be on high alert on trade deadline day.
3. You Get a Homer, You Get a Homer, Everyone Gets a Homer!
With football season around the corner, it would be easy to confuse the Missions' August 27 game at Riders Field for a battle on the gridiron. That's because the Missions erupted for seven home runs-their most in a game since April 15, 2011-to win 14-11 over the Frisco RoughRiders. The Missions trailed 4-1 in the second and 10-6 in the seventh inning, but San Antonio stormed back repeatedly to claim an incredible victory over the RoughRiders. Marcos Castañon (2), Moisès Gòmez, Braedon Karpathios (2), Devin Ortiz and Chris Sargent sent out the seven big flies. For Karpathios, those were his first two Double-A home runs after his call-up that week from High-A Fort Wayne. Castañon continued his tears in Frisco, where his .340 batting average is his best at any Texas League ballpark. But perhaps the best and most stunning part of the night was Sargent's homer. Sargent had signed the day before out of the Pioneer League, where he had 35 homers and 130 RBIs for the Ogden Raptors. In his first game ever in affiliated baseball, Sargent crushed a two-run homer.
2. San Antonio to San Diego
The Missions had not one, but two players get the call to the majors directly from Double-A. After sheltering from a tornado with the team in Amarillo in late April, reliever David Morgan-an undrafted free agent who hadn't pitched until college-joined the Padres and never left. Morgan became one of the Padres' most reliable bullpen pieces, which is saying something in one of baseball's most elite bullpens. One month later, Bradgley Rodriguez followed suit by getting a promotion to San Diego after an impressive performance for the Missions in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The day before his call-up, he answered whether Morgan's recent call-up made him feel like he could be next. He sure did, and he sure was. It's worth mentioning Eduarniel Nùñez in this conversation as well. Despite not going straight from San Antonio to San Diego, he played just seven games with Triple-A El Paso after 18 with the Missions before he too joined the Padres. Nùñez was later traded to the Athletics as part of the aforementioned Mason Miller trade. These three relievers made it abundantly clear for those who didn't realize it before: anyone playing at the Wolff can be in Petco Park the very next day.
1. A Storybook Moment for Romeo
Over the last several years, playing Frisco has been a rough ride for the Missions. In 2024 alone, the Missions went 4-20 against the RoughRiders, including 1-11 at home. With a lot of frustration built up, tempers seem to flare whenever the teams meet, and on May 10, manager Luke Montz, bench coach Miguel Del Castillo and starter Henry Baez all got ejected from the Saturday night home game against Frisco. Despite a good start from Baez, the Missions were held hitless through six innings by Mitch Bratt and trailed 1-0 headed into the ninth. Hope arrived when Kai Murphy led off the ninth inning with a triple, but the tying run stayed put after a ground out and strikeout. Once again, it seemed like the same old story between the Missions and RoughRiders. This time, however, Romeo Sanabria grabbed his pen and wrote a new ending. On the first pitch he saw from Skylar Hales, Sanabria walloped a ball 421ft and 106.8 MPH into the Texas night to give San Antonio a 2-1 victory over the RoughRiders. 4,765 fans at Wolff Stadium erupted, and Sanabria delivered a signature bat flip to place an exclamation point on an exhilarating Missions win. In a year in which the Missions won 10 games via the walk-off, none felt better than Sanabria's blast to beat Frisco, and it will be a moment Missions fans will remember for a long time.
For the Hill Country
While the 10 moments above were the most memorable in 2025, there is still something from the season that can't be distilled down to a moment. Rather, it was an effort that became bigger than any one person or game. After the devastating flood in the Texas Hill Country killed more than 130 people and destroyed much of the area, the Missions knew they had to step up for their neighbors. Through endless coordination, the Missions put together a Hill Country Flood Relief Night on August 9, when they took the field against the Springfield Cardinals wearing the jerseys of Center Point, Comfort, Ingram Tom Moore and Kerrville Tivy High Schools-the schools more affected by the flooding-and auctioned them off to raise money for the flood relief efforts. NBA Hall of Famer Manu Ginobili threw out the first pitch before the game, baseball players from the schools interacted with the Missions before the game and emotions ran high throughout the sentimental night. In addition to the Missions, the Boston Red Sox and San Diego Padres also wore the same high school jerseys before their game at Petco Park in San Diego, raising even more awareness for the cause. In the wake of such an unspeakable tragedy, the Missions, Red Sox, Padres and so many others showcased how sport can be so much more than just a game.
Texas League Stories from December 9, 2025
- Houston Astros Announce Sale of Three Minor League Affiliates to Diamond Baseball Holdings - Corpus Christi Hooks
- Top 10 Moments of the 2025 Missions Season - San Antonio Missions
- Arizona Diamondbacks Claim Minor League Baseball Sportsmanship Award - Amarillo Sod Poodles
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