Carlos Asuaje wins Padres rookie night

The Padres lost their game against the Dodgers last night. But from the looks of things, they still had a happy flight to Arizona, where they’ll close out their 2016 season.

As is tradition, the newest members of the big league club went through a little “hazing” last night. Now, not everyone is a fan of rookie hazing, and for good reason. Too often, the idea of hazing in the Majors means dressing up these young men in obscene, sexist, or otherwise offensive costumes. This season the Athletics had a “bachelorette party” theme for their rookie night while the Braves rookies were forced to don Rockford Peaches uniforms a la “A League of Their Own.”

The Padres are far from immune from this, having had rookies from past years cross-dress in Hooters uniforms, cocktail dresses, and other feminine costumes as a form of humor to “welcome” them to the big leagues. I’ll admit I used to find these costumes quite hilarious, but I’ve grown tired of this type of hazing that’s not just offensively unflattering, but lazy.

Last night, however, some of the Padres rookie hazing photos surfaced on social media, and I’m delighted at the results so far. Rather than just dressing up as women, the 2016 crop of young Friars seem to have gone a less traditional route.

Now we’ve only seen a few of the players’ pictures, but Carlos Asuaje pretty unanimously takes the cake for best costume.

In addition to Asuaje, Manuel Margot and Jose Torres were shown dressed as cops from Reno 911. Legs for days!

I hope more of these pictures become public and the rest of the Padres rookies have costumes that are just as silly/awesome.