When Padres catcher Martín Maldonado was drafted in the 27th round of the 2004 MLB Draft, Usher’s “Burn” topped the Billboard charts, Facebook was still just for Harvard students and LeBron James was an NBA rookie.
Maldonado was 17. Jackson Merrill, now his teammate, was 13 months and 20 days old.
Making it to the major leagues is rare enough; staying there is even harder. Fewer players have worn a big-league uniform than can fill all the seats at Petco Park. And to still be doing it in your late 30s — or even your (gasp!) 40s? That’s unicorn territory.
“It’s hard,” Maldonado said. “The game is getting younger and younger.”
If your knees creak in the morning or your back aches just from tying your shoes, you can probably relate. Now imagine catching 98 mph fastballs while crouched in the same position you were in during your early 20s.
“It’s hard enough to play in this league as a 21-year-old, let alone try to play here when you’re 35,” said Padres coach Nick Punto, who played 14 MLB seasons, his last at age 36. “That’s just the hard truth. The game keeps getting bigger, faster, stronger, and you just got to keep up.”
Consider this a love letter to baseball’s silver sluggers (and pitchers) — the 35-and-over crew that’s becoming rarer than a home run without a bat flip.
The Padres have four of them: Jose Iglesias and Jason Heyward are both 35, and Yu Darvish and Maldonado are both 38 with birthdays coming up in August. Earlier this season, the Padres released one of the league’s oldest players, 40-year-old Yuli Gurriel.
Iglesias and Maldonado both reported to spring training this year on minor league deals. The Padres struck gold with veterans in 2024. Donovan Solano, then 36, slashed .286/.343/.417 (.760 OPS) with a career-high eight homers before g a one-year, $3.5 million contract with the Seattle Mariners in the offseason. David Peralta hit .267 with eight home runs and 28 RBIs in his age-37 season while starting 47 games in right field and 13 at designated hitter.
“Every time I go to free agency, the first thing teams tell me is, you know, your age,” Solano said. “No matter what you’ve produced, no matter what your number is, the first concern they have is the age.”
Iglesias missed all of 2023 because he couldn’t secure a major league deal, despite posting a strong season with the Rockies the year before.
“I feel like the game was not fair; not treating me, to some degree, the right way,” Iglesias said. “So for me, I don’t take it for granted. I’m having fun. I’m being a good teammate. I know my role nowadays is play where they need me, be available when they need me.”
Conceding to a changing role is often a tenet of longevity in this league.
“The minor league contract, (less) money, there’s a lot of things you have to accept,” said catcher Elias Díaz, nodding toward Maldonado’s locker. “Because you’re humble, and you’re hungry, and you have to prove to yourself that you can do it, that you can play at this age.”
Díaz, who turns 35 in November, sees teammates like Maldonado and Heyward as proof of what’s possible.
“Definitely, this game right now is young,” he said. “I want to show to myself that I can play this game for a long time. I saw ‘Maldy,’ I saw ‘J-Hey’ have, like, 15 years in the league. So I say, ‘Oh, I can play for a long time, too.’ These guys, they are an example for younger players.”
Getting young
The average age of a position player in Major League Baseball this season is 28; for pitchers, it’s 29. Studies over the years have shown athletic performance rises rapidly in a player’s 20s, peaks between 27 and 29 and often declines after that. The eye test, in many cases, seems to bear that out.
Younger is more athletic. Younger can be cheaper and more controllable. Younger is fun and flashy.
It can also be the low-hanging fruit.
“It’s important to have experience in the clubhouse, and it’s important to have good energy,” Iglesias said. “You cannot win without those. You cannot. It’s important to have a balance … and to have the right pieces, the right mindset at the right time. And that’s what the veteran players bring.”
The savvy veteran is an endangered species. There are 77 players age 35 or older currently on 40-man rosters; that’s 6.42% of players league-wide. Older players seem to be getting phased out at a faster rate.
“Honestly, I see it,” said Manny Machado, 32. “I don’t know why. I honestly don’t know why. I guess the game is going younger. I don’t know if it’s for money reasons or … honestly, I have no idea what it is. I mean, we’ve all talked about it. We’ve seen guys who, you know, Peralta … He was a big part of our push last year. And he’s at home. So do I know the answer to it? Why? I don’t know. There could be a number of reasons.”
To stick in the league into your late 30s, resilience is essential. So is the ability to adapt. It might mean more stretching, less junk food and — most importantly — mental fortitude. You need health, some luck and the belief of a front office.
Solano was asked what he has changed over the years to stay on the field.
“Everything,” he said. “We have to change everything. But the technology right now, they give you red light (therapy), (blood flow restriction), grounding. You have to use it all. You have to use everything to take advantage, to get ready for the next day. Cold plunge, sauna, massage.
“My body’s not responding the same as 20 years ago. You have to understand what’s going on. Go to sleep early, do this, do that. And the experience you have been creating all your career, you know what you need. Like, I don’t need 50 swings today. … I try to tell all those young guys that you don’t have to wait to get to 30-something to learn. If you learn at a young age, then when you are 30, 32, you still (have) more because you don’t destroy your body right now.”
They may not all match the raw athleticism of their younger teammates, but you won’t find any dad bods here either. Workouts are still demanding, and agility is nonnegotiable.
“Back in the day, guys that were older, they weren’t keeping up with themselves physically, I don’t think,” said Tommy Pham, 37, a former Padre who now plays for the Pittsburgh Pirates. “I think it’s fair of me to have that opinion. Today, the way the game has evolved, you definitely have to keep yourself in better shape athletically as you get older or you’re going to definitely be out.”
Older players bring experience, presence and perspective. Many of them are better suited to the routines and mental toughness needed in a utility or bench role compared to their younger counterparts. Heyward has been to the postseason 10 times in 15 seasons. He and Maldonado are both World Series champions who, between them, have nearly 31 years of experience.
Iglesias and Darvish are both in their 13th seasons.
“It’s hard,” Heyward said of sticking around. “I think you have to for sure remain consistent, but also be able to adjust. Your routine, making sure you know what you need to do to get your best foot forward as an individual, but also during that, understand that the game is always gonna change. Like, everyone’s always focused on what’s the next new thing … So just being prepared for (change) to happen around you but also needing to remain constant with what you bring.”
A five-time Gold Glove winner, Heyward has made a few highlight reel-worthy plays in left field this season.
“When you see guys like Jason Heyward out here, that is a very disciplined athlete,” Punto said. “I mean, he still looks young, and he still runs well, he makes all the plays in the outfield, and that’s not by accident. He’s doing all that work in the offseason to be able to sustain the athleticism you need to play at this level. And to me, it’s just incredible. I love seeing veterans like the Iglesiases and the Heywards able to keep up with the 20-year-old kid.”
When Punto won a World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2011, 35-year-old Lance Berkman was his teammate in right field.
“He still had bat speed,” Punto said. “He still was playing great.”
What Berkman brought, in Punto’s opinion, couldn’t be seen solely in the box score.
“It’s not tangible,” Punto said. “What you have when you have a veteran presence like we do with Heyward, Iglesias, is you have all this experience. Years and years of experience sitting there on the bench to help along the Jackson Merrills and help along the younger players and even the veteran players, like the (Xander) Bogaerts and the Mannys.
“These guys are just a really good voice to go to when you’re struggling or whatever it is and just be able to have that resource. It’s huge. I always think that world championship-caliber teams always have a couple guys at the end of the bench that have been there, done that.”
Digital divide
Organizations like the Padres have three clear ways to create depth: make a trade, develop from within, or find diamonds where others see dust.
Maldonado believes the shift toward youth reflects the game’s growing preference for athleticism over experience. Fernando Tatis Jr., Merrill and Machado were all 20 when they made their big-league debuts.
“The younger you are, the more athletic you’re going to be,” Maldonado said. “I think that’s the reason why. Before, you didn’t see that many guys at a really young age in the big leagues. Now you’re seeing guys who are 19, 20 years old.”
It may also reflect how front offices operate.
“With all the information the team provides to the players, they think they can match what (veterans) bring to the table,” Maldonado said. “That could be one reason.”
Elite athleticism is special but often limited to one or two players per team. It doesn’t always translate into wins. Nor does a homer-happy player who hasn’t yet learned to navigate winning on the margins or the rigors of a playoff push.
“Obviously, you’re younger, you should be moving better,” Iglesias said. “You should be moving faster. It’s common sense. But if you’re 35 and you’re still doing the job, you’re moving around, you play well, you perform … At the end of the day, it’s a results league, right? It’s getting that hit no matter how. If you’re looking at long-term deals and you’re spending money on a player, I totally agree and value analytics, but when you want to win and you want to bring the best players on the field, analytics could be a little iffy. And you know, the naked eye doesn’t lie on a daily basis for 14 years.”
Production is king
To many fans, 35 already seems past the expiration date. Scroll through social media and you’ll see words like “bum,” “washed” and “done,” even though many times, the younger players aren’t producing any better than the older ones.
Quantifying a player who’s not producing is a difficult ask. Gurriel was hitting .111 with no home runs and three RBIs in 36 at-bats when the Padres cut ties with him.
Heyward is hitting .176, and Maldonado .181. Both remain on the club, though Heyward is currently on the injured list.
Iglesias has been a steady contributor, batting .254 with a .310 on-base percentage entering Saturday while continuing to provide valuable defense.
Still, there’s a clear understanding that seasoned players often operate on a shorter leash than their developing counterparts.
“You have to perform as you get older, because if you don’t perform, you’re definitely out of the game,” Pham said. “And when you do perform, you’re not really getting rewarded anymore … You’re playing because you love the game.”
Patience can be worthwhile. Last year, Peralta had a .544 OPS on June 30 before raising it to .750 and cementing himself as a key piece of the Padres’ postseason push.
“I don’t think people realize it’s more than what you do out there, numbers-wise,” Machado said. “There’s some guys that are great clubhouse guys, there’s some guys that bring energy. There’s some guys who just perform. There’s guys who lead by example. There’s so many different ways that you can be an impact on a ballclub. Not just a number, where you can’t hit a fastball or you can’t hit a slider, you can’t do this or that. I think there’s more importance to bringing teams together that certain guys bring and some don’t.
“I mean, everyone’s different, right? And sometimes, you know, some people don’t really see that.”
