McFarland: Hawkins caps outstanding comeback season with Padres’ top minor league pitcher honour
Vauxhall Jets and UBC alum Garrett Hawkins (Biggar, Sask.) was named San Diego Padres’ Minor League Pitcher of the Year. Photo: Fort Wayne TinCaps
*This article was originally published on Saskatchewan Dugout Stories on October 20. You can read it here.
October 20, 2025
By Joe McFarland
Saskatchewan Dugout Stories
When Garrett Hawkins toed the rubber at Parkview Field in Fort Wayne for the first time in 2025, it felt surreal.
Facing the Lansing Lugnuts on April 4, he induced a ground out from Sahid Valenzuela, struck out Rodney Green, Jr., and got another ground out from Tommy White.
It was almost as if the Biggar, Saskatchewan native had never left, even though he had last appeared in a TinCaps uniform almost 23 months earlier before undergoing Tommy John surgery.
He did his best to soak it all in, then it was back to business as he struck out the side in the bottom of the fifth inning and picked up the win in a 4-1 Fort Wayne victory.
Hawkins was back, albeit in a new role as a reliever.
“That was probably what I was most focused on,” the Vauxhall Academy grad told Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast. “OK, I got the call, I’m going to be in the next inning, now what do I do?”
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Listen to Alberta Dugout Stories interview Garrett Hawkins here.
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What he did was opened the door to an unbelievable comeback season in the San Diego Padres farm system, capped off by winning the organization’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year, rocketing up the team’s depth charts and making many wonder if he will be the next Western Canadian to be called up to the big leagues in 2026.
ARM WAS ‘SHREDDED’
Rewind the tape to May 2023.
Off to a solid start with the TinCaps, Hawkins was 0-2 with a 3.60 earned run average in four starts, striking out 15 in as many innings.
He admits his arm was nagging him a little bit, but he felt like all he needed to do was keep throwing and work his way through it.
However, Hawkins pulled his oblique during a mid-week bullpen session and was shutdown to recover.
While in rehab, he says the team decided to take a look at his elbow.
“The doctor kind of described it just as ‘shredded,’” Hawkins recalled. “It wasn’t one throw that I felt something go … just more of a chronic thing.”
They opted for surgery to get his arm back to 100 percent health, leading to a lot of time spent in Arizona over the next two years.
A NEW ROLE
While many recovering from a long-term injury will say that it’s tougher mentally than physically to come back, Hawkins says he was fortunate to keep an even-keel throughout the rehabilitation.
Spending many hours with his fellow teammates on the injured list, the former Lethbridge Bull and Swift Current 57 hurler did his best to focus on the process and not get too far ahead of himself.
Once he was cleared to start mobility exercises, he says the biggest challenge was trusting his arm again.
UBC alum Garrett Hawkins (Biggar, Sask.) was named the San Diego Padres’ Minor League Pitcher of the Year. Photo: UBC Athletics
“You come right out of your cast and, right away, you’re trying to move it back and forth just to get that range of motion back because you’re stuck in that position for a bit,” Hawkins said.
As he started ramping up towards his baseball-oriented activities, the 6-foot-5, 230-pound righthander says he started thinking about his role in the organization and how best to move up the depth charts after missing nearly two full seasons.
“The fast-track to the big leagues for me was going to be out of the bullpen,” Hawkins said. “Especially losing that time, I think it was an inevitable move, whether it was going to be good or bad, we didn’t know.”
With an eye towards a full return in 2025, he started preparing himself for any situation.
UNTOUCHABLE
Heading into Spring Training, Hawkins says he still wasn’t sure how his role would be defined, as he was thinking it would be long-relief to begin the season and maybe building into a starter again as the year progressed.
Coming out of the bullpen was a new world for him in that he had been a starter since he was drafted by the Padres in 2021.
He wanted to understand the mindset and preparation needed for coming in mid-game and potentially multiple times during a week instead of once every five days.
“Honestly, I tried to just not think as much,” Hawkins laughed. “In my first year, I was always thinking about my next start or the adjustments I was going to make.”
“In the bullpen, you don’t really have those four or five days to go back and think of what you would have done differently – it’s always onto the next one and get ready for the next game.”
After his successful 2025 return, Hawkins got roughed up a bit in his next two innings, allowing five runs in two games before having an up-and-down final couple of weeks in April.
He says he made a slight adjustment to his delivery during Spring Training, which he was still tinkering with, but then something clicked.
At one point in 2025, Hawkins tossed 36 consecutive scoreless innings for the High-A Fort Wayne TinCaps. Photo: True Gravity Baseball
Hawkins twirled another two-inning perfect gem on April 27, then went the entire month of May without allowing a run on just five hits in nine outings.
He pitched a scoreless June with two hits in eight appearances and went scoreless again in July with three hits in another eight outings.
All told, the 25-year-old went 8-1 with eight saves and a 1.43 ERA in 32 relief appearances, striking out 60 in 44 innings of relief work, setting the team record for consecutive scoreless innings.
The Padres noticed, and on August 1, he was assigned to their double-A team in San Antonio.
ROLLING WITH THE PUNCHOUTS
When moving up the pro ranks, most pitchers will tell you that the hitters get more selective and the strike zone shrinks a bit.
Hawkins clearly didn’t notice it, as his dominance continued with the Missions.
His debut with them came August 2 against the Frisco RoughRiders, where he allowed no runs on two hits and no walks in two innings of work, striking out three to pick up the save in a 4-2 victory.
Three days later, the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds alum picked up his second save with the team, then gave up his first run in three months against Tulsa on August 12.
Hawkins finished the season with San Antonio going 1-0 with a 1.69 ERA in 13 appearances, striking out another 20 batters in 16 innings.
Hawkins was named Padres’ Minor League Pitcher of the Year. Photo: San Diego Padres
While the Missions didn’t make it to the playoffs, their new high-leverage reliever was beside himself on the success he had.
“I think this year was the most fun I’ve had playing baseball,” Hawkins said.
“Not just the season I had, but all the teammates and coaches and environments … just being back playing again I think that helped, too.”
Unlike in the past, he says he never went to the ballpark stressed or over-thinking things.
He was just ready to play and have as much fun as he could.
ONE STEP CLOSER
Back home in Saskatchewan, where he continues to do some coaching with Going Yard Academy while he works out, Hawkins is set on having a productive offseason.
He’s working on a splitter while getting more consistent with his slider, as he believes his secondary pitches are what will differentiate himself from others in the Padres’ system.
After showing he belonged in double-A, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Hawkins will start 2026 in triple-A – one step away from Major League Baseball.
“Trying to debut this next year probably isn’t out of the cards, just with the year I had and the age getting up there,” Hawkins said. “I think it’s a possibility and I think that’s going to be my goal coming out of this offseason and into Spring Training.”
He knows being in triple-A means he’s potentially one injury, trade or bad start away from getting the call-up that everyone dreams about.
But Hawkins is also quick to catch himself as he gets thinking down the road.
“Day by day, things move pretty quick in pro ball,” said the prairie pitcher. “I think not trying to get too ahead of myself and just take every day as it comes – when it happens, I’ll know I’m ready.”
From the operating table to being one of the top pitchers in the San Diego Padres’ farm system, Hawkins has a lot to be proud of and will certainly be one to watch heading into the new year.