Revamped Padres Roster Ready for Spring Breakout Showcase

Dylan Lesko looks to build on last year with a big 2024 campaign. (Photo: Jerry Espinoza)

When the Padres initially announced the 26 members of their roster for the newly-created Spring Breakout showcase, most observers tabbed it as the best among all 30 organizations’ entries for the event Major League Baseball created to bring attention to top prospects and emerging talent from across the game.

Of course, three of those announced players – top prospect Jackson Merrill, seventh overall Graham Pauley, and number 12 Eguy Rosario – are now in Korea. Three others moved 11 miles down the road from the Peoria Sports Complex to the White Sox organization Wednesday evening.

Even with the subtraction of so many prominent names, when the Padres’ team takes the Peoria Sports Complex field at 1:10 on Friday, it will include three consensus top 100 prospects and several others who are knocking on the door of such recognition.

Starters Robby Snelling and Dylan Lesko – the first two picks from the Padres’ vaunted 2022 draft class – headline an announced 12-man pitching staff. They should be throwing to Ethan Salas, the top catching prospect in the game.

Leo De Vries got right to work in Peoria. (Photo: Jerry Espinoza

This year’s top international signee, Leo De Vries center fielder Jakob Marsee – who impressed in big league camp – last year’s top pick, Dillon Head, and righties Adam Mazur and Ryan Bergert round out the top 10 prospects on the roster.

The late turnover in the roster will give a few lower-profile but interesting prospects a chance to get some time in the spotlight.

The pitching staff includes several prospects with big velocity, including reliever Cole Paplham and Braden Nett, who impressed in last year’s Arizona Fall League. Both have emerged after signing as undrafted free agents in 2022. The biggest arm of them all may be the most obscure; Bradgley Rodriguez.

The 20-year-old signed out of Venezuela in January 2021 and spent that summer in the Dominican Summer League. An injury cost him the 2022 season, and he ultimately had surgery that knocked him out of the 2023 campaign as well. Rodriguez was reportedly up to triple digits in the Venezuelan Winter League, though he has fought to land his big fastball for strikes consistently. He could get a chance to shine in a game that will be broadcast on the MLB Network.

Last year’s 11th-round pick, Carson Montgomery, joins Rodriguez as the only member of the pitching staff who has yet to throw a professional pitch in the U.S.

Among position players, the newly-emptied spots on the roster have left room for two more intriguing prospects from the 2022 draft class to join Nathan Martorella. Athletic outfielder Tyler Robertson and big first baseman Romeo Sanabria were both officially added to the roster on Thursday.

Sanabria, 21, was the organization’s top performer in the Arizona Complex League last year, showing impressive raw power. Robertson, who was selected four rounds ahead of Sanabria in the 14th round, continues to try to refine his impressive athleticism into consistent performance on the field.

The full planned roster is below. We’ll have coverage from on-site in Peoria.