Tirso Ornelas was just 16 years old when he agreed to a $1.5 million signing bonus with the Padres.

At the time, his rights were owned by the Mexico City Red Devils’ youth academy. The rules back then stipulated that Mexican League amateurs received 60% of the bonus and the parent club got the rest.

Ornelas’ journey over the last eight years has been anything but short.

To make ends meet along the way, Ornelas at one point found himself doing DoorDash deliveries during one of his stops in Arizona.

“It wasn’t that long,” Ornelas said through interpreter Jorge Merlos, “but that helped me out.”

The paychecks are better now that Ornelas is on the Padres’ 40-man roster, but still just over $36,000 while at Triple-A El Paso, according to Finlete. He made his MLB debut in April, but that was just a cup of coffee and Ornelas is looking for a little more help to sustain his pursuit of a big-league career.

Finlete, a San Diego-based start-up, is allowing fans to purchase a stake in Ornelas’ future MLB earnings.  Fans can get in on the ground floor for $1.71 per share in a platform entirely different than the one under new scrutiny following Fernando Tatis Jr.’s filing on Monday against Big League Advance.

Finlete has made 100,000 shares available. In exchange, Ornelas receives $171,000 up front and, he says, peace of mind.

“It’s just going to make me a better player,” Ornelas said in April, “without worrying about stuff that’s going on off the field, whether it’s better nutrition, better food, things that help with recovering. We’ve just started talking (investing) that money into other things as well, so that’s going to help.”

The idea is that fans are investing in Ornelas’ career almost like baseball card collectors do when they buy a player’s rookie card in bulk and hope he blossoms into a star.

“With us, the idea was, ‘Wouldn’t it be better if we could create a marketplace where instead of buying a rookie card or jersey that doesn’t benefit the athlete and instead buy shares of his career and support the athlete?’” said Finlete co-founder Rob Connolly, a Granite Hills High School alum. “Then the fans are able to share in that journey financially and emotionally.”

Guardians closer All-Star Emmanuel Clase headlines Finlete’s roster of athletes. For $12 per share, fans can buy a piece of up to 3% of his future earnings. Clase has already made more than $11 million in the majors, a number that’s sure to grow due to Cleveland’s $10 million team options for 2027 and 2028.

Finlete is not the first company aimed at propping up athletes early in their journey toward professional careers in exchange for a share of their future earnings.

In 2016, former Padres infielder Yangervis Solarte sold 11% of his future earnings to Fantex for $3.15 million up front.

And in 2017, an 18-year-old Tatis signed away 10% of his future earnings to Big League Advance in exchange for $2 million up front. The $340 million deal that Tatis signed with the Padres in February 2021 means $34 million is owed to Big League Advance; Tatis filed a complaint in court on Monday in hopes of using California’s consumer protection laws to void what his legal team has alleged is an illegal loan from an un unlicensed lender.

Both Fantex and Big League Advance are backed by multi-million-dollar hedge funds. In contrast, the money that Ornelas receives up front is tied directly to how many fans want to invest in his career, and anyone can get in on the action with Finlete, which counts executives from Fantex and Big League Advance among its advisers.

“We wanted this to be approachable for all fans,” Connolly said.

Here’s how it works:

The minimum investment is just over $300 for 176 shares for Ornelas’ future earnings at a rate of .000009%.

At a price of $1.71 per share, fan investors will break even if Ornelas makes $19 million in the majors. They can more than double their investment if Ornelas makes $50 million.

Ornelas will keep the $171,000 whether he has a lucrative big-league career or not. Finlete’s profit and management fees are built into the share price. Other minor leaguers on their roster include Red Sox Triple-A outfielder Jhostynxon Garcia, Cardinals Double-A catcher Leonardo Bernal and Marlins High-A infielder Echedry Vargas.

Investor perks include a signed baseball card from the player invested in and an invitation to a meet-and-greet in spring training.

“We just want to be a bridge and help him reach his goals,” Connolly said.

Added Ornelas: “It’s really fun. It’s just to have those fans that are getting involved in my career and giving them an opportunity to (invest) money in me. I’m really looking forward to that. These fans have an opportunity to see my career and see what I’ve been doing, just to help me out and help them out as well.”