The Padres are for help behind the plate, and their search for catching has extended to the Windy City. reports that the Padres have interest in White Sox catcher , who has spent much of the 2025 season either on the big league injured list or at Triple-A Charlotte. It wasnt long ago that Lee seemed like a potential building block for the Sox, as he opened the 2024 season as Chicagos regular catcher and hit .309/.341/.494 in his first 85 plate appearances. Unfortunately for Lee, his bat then went ice cold for the remainder of the year. He finished with a .210/.244/.347 slash line in 394 Josh Richardson Jersey PA, and his 64 wRC+ was the third-lowest of any 2024 player who received at least 300 trips to the plate. Lees 2025 campaign then got off a rough start when he suffered a left ankle sprain in early April, which resulted in over six weeks on the IL. Lees last big league appearance this season came on June 5, and he has since been playing in Charlotte. With highly-regarded prospects and now taking over as Chicagos catching tandem, Lee simply looks like the odd man out. was just today in a trade from the Red Sox, which could push Lee even further down the depth chart or hint that Lee could soon be on his way elsewhere. The Astros took Lee with the 32nd pick of the 2019 draft, and his 12-game rookie season in 2022 netted him a World Series ring right at the start of his Major League career. Lee was dealt from Houston to Chicago at the 2023 trade deadline in the swap that brought to the Astros, and Lee has thus far hit .192/.231/.315 over 521 career plate appearances in the big leagues. It isnt much of a track record, though Lee has hit pretty well during his time at Triple-A, including a .262/.342/.438 slash line in 146 PA with Charlotte in 2025. Lee was very good at throwing out baserunners in 2024, but Statcast hasnt loved his defensive work overall, with generally negative grades for Lees framing and blocking (albeit in a small sample size of MLB action). If Lee doesnt look like a difference-maker on paper for the Padres, he is just shy of his 27th birthday, and might be able to yet unlock his past draft potential with another change of scenery. As it relates to San Diego, Lee still could represent an upgrade on a catching situation that has nowhere to go but up. Padres catchers have in 2025, easily the lowest of any teams catching corps. Veterans and have a cumulative slash line of .190/.250/.296 in 342 plate appearances, and Maldonados once-acclaimed glovework has also fallen off, as per public metrics. Boban Marjanovic Jersey