Top Prospects Series
Below is an evaluation of the prospects within the farm system of the San Diego Padres. Scouting studies had been compiled with info supplied by trade sources in addition to my very own observations. This is the third 12 months we’re delineating between two anticipated aid roles, the abbreviations for which you’ll see within the “position” column beneath: MIRP for multi-inning aid pitchers, and SIRP for single-inning aid pitchers. The ETAs listed typically correspond to the 12 months a participant needs to be added to the 40-man roster to keep away from being made eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Manual changes are made the place they appear applicable, however I take advantage of that as a rule of thumb.
A fast overview of what FV (Future Value) means could be discovered right here. A a lot deeper overview could be discovered right here.
All of the ranked prospects beneath additionally seem on The Board, a useful resource the positioning presents that includes sortable scouting info for each group. It has extra particulars (and up to date TrackMan information from varied sources) than this text and integrates each workforce’s checklist so readers can examine prospects throughout farm techniques. It could be discovered right here.
Other Prospects of Note
Grouped by kind and listed so as of desire inside every class.
Catching Depth
Oswaldo Linares, C
Lamar King Jr., C
Juan Fernandez, C
Yoiber Ocopio, C
Oliver Carrillo, C
Linares, 20, was a two-year DSL man who was despatched to Lake Elsinore not lengthy after the Complex League season began. He appeared excellent throughout prolonged spring coaching, exhibiting really feel for the barrel and a satisfactory look behind the dish. He has 40-grade bat pace however is in any other case a fairly well-rounded younger catcher. King, whose dad performed defensive finish for the Seahawks, was a $500,000 highschool signee in 2022. He’s extraordinarily bodily and has gotten a lot better on protection over the past 12 months, however he’s nonetheless a long-term dev challenge in principally each means. Fernandez, 24, is a multi-positional participant with an extended bat-to-ball monitor report. He’s not nice at any of the positions he performs (C/1B/3B, a little bit of second base final 12 months). Ocopio is a big-framed DSL catcher with a powerful early-career bat-to-ball efficiency. Carrillo is a extra mature catcher who’s crushing the DSL proper now and must be despatched to Arizona to be examined.
FanGraphs’ Flavor
Alain Camou, 2B
Ismael Javier, MIF
Emil Turbi, MIF
Luis De Leon, MIF
This complete group is comprised of undersized center infielders, lots of whom switch-hit, and all of whom have superior really feel for contact. They are additionally all fairly small. Camou is on the advanced in Arizona whereas the remainder are within the DSL.
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Nerwilian Cedeño, 2B
Yendry Rojas, SS
Daniel Montesino, LF
Joshua Mears, LF
Especially in the event you already care about Padres prospects, you could be questioning about among the names from this group. Cedeño is a bit infielder with sneaky pop for his measurement. I concern he’s a second base-only defender with out sufficient hit instrument to profile as an on a regular basis man. Unless they’ll play one other place, guys like this have a tendency to finish up on Domingo Leyba’s path. The similar is basically true of Rojas, who signed for $1.3 million in 2022. I’m unsure he’s going to remain on the filth. For him, Montesino and Mears, the offensive bar they’ll have to clear is kind of excessive.
Inventory Arms
Bodi Rascon, LHP
Jose Espada, RHP
Matt Waldron, RHP
Kobe Robinson, RHP
Carter Loewen, RHP
Rascon is a 6-foot-5 lefty with a low-90s fastball, a median slider, and a changeup that flashes. He might be a sturdy spot starter. A 2019 minor league rule 5 decide by Boston (from Toronto), Espada was signed as a minor league free agent within the offseason. He has a vertical fastball/curveball break up and a few of his breakers are actually nasty. His changeup can miss a bat, too. None of his pitches have constant end, which makes Espada’s fastball particularly weak at 40-grade velo. Waldron is a knuckleballing depth arm who made his large league debut just lately. Robinson is a low-slot righty sitting 94. Loewen is sitting 95 and has an 87 mph slider; he was promoted to Fort Wayne on the finish of June. He’s a possible reliever who’s a fantastic distance from Petco.
System Overview
The Padres system is extraordinarily high heavy, with a four-player tier of potential stars up high after which a large drop off quickly after. The Padres’ deadline posture as large time consumers every of the final a number of years has undoubtedly value them good prospects as they’ve aggressively pursued a hoop, which is pretty much as good a purpose to have a barely depleted farm system as any. The Padres have tended to maintain their system flush with sufficient premium prospects to maintain this method. They aren’t excellent, however they have an inclination to select and signal actually good gamers. Last 12 months, I wrote that their system was down in comparison with prior years and so they had been nonetheless in a position to commerce for Juan Soto. At instances, the Padres are a bit over-aggressive on the commerce market and it finally ends up costing them the occasional Matt Brash or Emmanuel Clase kind of participant in a smaller deal. The sheer variety of graduated large leaguers in different orgs who had been initially signed by the Padres proves each factors. There are at present 15 prospects in different techniques who had been initially signed by San Diego. On common since 2020, seven gamers initially signed by the Padres have performed sufficient large league baseball to lose rookie standing, together with Brash, Clase, Jack Suwinski, Andrés Muñoz, and David Bednar.
San Diego is comfortable to draft pitchers who fall solely because of harm, with Dylan Lesko and Henry Williams the latest examples; Cal Quantrill and Mason Thompson could be described this manner too. As all the time, on-mound demeanor and worn-on-the-sleeve competitiveness appear to be separators for the Padres, although no quantity of chest-pounding will assist a few of these guys’ fastballs play. On the place participant facet, a bit pod of compact, hitterish infielders has popped up at San Diego’s lowest ranges. This is a prospect phylum I are likely to affiliate extra with groups that take an analytically-oriented method within the worldwide market, like Cleveland and Milwaukee. I don’t assume I’d name this a development but, and it could simply be the type of participant they pivoted to to be able to fill out a signing class behind Ethan Salas.
The Padres professional division nonetheless deploys a number of scouts on the advanced degree regardless that the workforce was anticipated to contend this season and be consumers on the deadline. This just isn’t true of all contenders, a few of which take a extra dynamic method and throttle down advanced protection once they’re much less prone to commerce for prospects. The Braves are instance of this. In the occasion they fail to get rolling in July and determine to make some sellers’ offers, the Padres are in place to take gamers from the decrease minors.
Content Source: blogs.fangraphs.com