Lake Elsinore Storm 2025 Season Preview

Synopsis: The Storm had a successful 2024 campaign, finishing with a 71-58 record. They advanced to the California League Championship Series for the second time in three seasons, but lost to Modesto in a best-of-three matchup. Fourteen players who saw some time in Lake Elsinore last year return for opening day, joining several promising international pitchers and the top three picks from last year’s draft class. 

The Storm will also have a new manager, with 2024 manager Lukas Ray now in Fort Wayne. Former Baltimore Oriole Brian Burres, who worked with the pitching development group in Peoria last summer, will be the skipper in Lake Elsinore. 

Three Strikes with Mike Daly, Assistant Director of Player Development

Your starting pitching staff looks like the G-League basketball team in Oceanside. Were you surprised by how athletic 6-foot-8 Boston Bateman is?

Mike Daly: What he did in the offseason was really impressive. He got his feet wet in the Instructional League, tightened his arm action a little bit, and came in in great shape. He passed our conditioning test pretty quickly and has had an outstanding camp. Our scouting group did a great job identifying his talent on the field and his plus makeup off the field. The amount of work he has put in from the draft until now has been impressive.

Lamar King Jr. showed he could hit last year as he worked back from surgery, and now you’ll have him back behind the plate. What will be the plan in the future?
Mike Daly: Lamar has taken significant steps as well. He should catch half the time and then some time at first base and DH. We are excited about his steps with the bat; it’s a little tighter, has a good direction, and uses the big part of the field. He has hit very well in camp, and we should see some significant steps from Lamar this season. He will hit in the middle of the order for the Storm with no restrictions. It finally seems like this is the year he will be able to play, so we are really happy for him.

Sean Barnett must be a nightmare to plan for because he is a two-way player. Is the plan to work him more as a pitcher or a position player right now?
Mike Daly: He will DH only at this point. We are trying to walk down the path with him on pitching while also realizing he has value with the bat. Some of his throwing progression from the offseason has caused a little discomfort, mainly because he isn’t used to it. So we are backing off of that for a little while and going to have him hit. He will play multiple games weekly as DH and continue his throwing program in Lake Elsinore in partnership with our medical side. His skipper, Brian Burres, is a former pitcher who spent six years in the big leagues, so we feel very comfortable with that.

2025 Projected Lineup
1B: Kaden Hollow*/Zach Evans
2B: Yendry Rojas*
3B: B.Y. Choi*
SS: Cobb Hightower #/Ryan Jackson
C: Lamar King Jr.
LF: Ryan Wilson
CF: Kavares Tears #
RF: Spence Coffman/Kasen Wells*
DH: Sean Barnett
Bench: Victor Duarte, Colton Vincent, Daniel Montesino*
*indicates left-handed or switch-hitter
# Injured

Projected Pitching Staff

LHSP Kash Mayfield            RHP Johan Moreno
LHSP Boston Bateman      RHP Alejandro Lugo
RHSP Bryan Balzer              LHP Yovannki Pascual
LHSP Luis Gutierrez            RHP Vicarte Domingo
RHSP Maikel Miralles          RHP Igor Gil
RHSP Kleiber Olmedo         LHP Braian Salazar
RHP Bernard Jose              RHP Carson Swilling
RHP Jesus Lopez               RHP Miguel Valdez
RHP Mario Zabala

Top 20 Prospects in Lake Elsinore: LHP Kash Mayfield (#3), LHP Boston Bateman (#5), OF Kavares Tears (#12), INF Cobb Hightower (#19)

Catch A Rising Star: Finally 100% healthy, catcher Lamar King should see plenty of action behind home plate after being limited to work at first base and designated hitter last summer. Since being drafted in the fourth round in 2022, King has only appeared in 15 games behind the dish – a mark that he should eclipse by early May. The 21-year-old looked good in a brief cameo with the Storm last season, producing a .777 OPS, with his first two professional homers. He added another one in the playoffs for good measure. King will start the season as the most intriguing position player prospect on the active Storm roster. 

Starting Pitching: The Storm rotation features a pair of high draft picks making their professional debuts, joining a slew of intriguing arms that the Padres acquired in international free agency. Lefty Kash Mayfield was the Padres’ first-rounder in last July’s draft out of high school in Oklahoma. The 19-year-old features a three-pitch mix, including a fastball capable of topping out in the mid-90s. … Bateman will also throw his first professional pitch in the California League, eight months after the Padres selected him in the second round out of Camarillo High School. The big lefty can top out at 98 mph as part of a four-pitch mix that includes a curve, change, and slider. … Bryan Balzer signed out of Japan for only $10,000 in 2023 and underwent Tommy John surgery shortly thereafter. Now 20, the righty has shown the ability to dial it up to the upper-90s and has relied on a good relationship with Yu Darvish to develop a strong idea of what he wants to do on the mound. Already on our sleeper watch list, he will be a key member of the Elsinore staff. … Lefty Luis Gutierrez is back in Lake Elsinore after making 14 starts for the Storm last year. The 21-year-old from Venezuela struggled at times but put things together down the stretch. Over his last five starts, Gutierrez pitched to a 1.75 ERA. … Venezuelan righties Maikel Miralles and Kleiber Olmedo, 20-year-olds who signed in 2023, both got to Lake Elsinore at the end of last year and showed off decent stuff. They’ll both look to take a step forward in their first full year away from the complex.

Bullpen: Alejandro Lugo is back for his third tour of duty in Lake Elsinore after being a solid contributor last season. The 22-year-old appeared in 22 games for the Storm last season, pitching to a solid 3.06 ERA in 53.2 innings. Lugo was deployed as a multi-inning reliever who could be paired with Bateman or Mayfield to eat innings, especially early in the season. … Lefty Yovannki Pascual, who signed as a 20-year-old for $40,000 in 2023, showed impressive stuff in a small sample with the Storm last season but struggled with command issues. Before moving up, he was our MadFriars Pitcher of the Year in the ACL last season. … Lefty Braian Salazar made it to Lake Elsinore last season after starring for the ACL squad in each of the last two seasons. While the walks were a bit high, the lefty struck out a whopping 21 batters in just 12 innings for the Storm. …  Born in 2006, righty Jesus Lopez is the youngest member of the Storm pitching staff. The young righty struggled in the ACL last season, pitching to a 6.68 ERA, despite striking out 38 batters in 32.2 innings.

Catching: With King slated to receive at least three starts per week, the remaining playing time will be divided between Colton Vincent and Victor Duarte. Duarte, 24, missed all of last season with an injury. He saw time with the Storm in 2022 and 2023 in a backup role. The Venezuelan is a solid receiver but doesn’t provide much in the way of offensive upside. In 433 at-bats as a professional, he has posted a .624 OPS. He has also seen time at first base. … Former Florida state catcher Colton Vincent posted terrific offensive numbers in the ACL last year, hitting .321/.392/.435 with 13 doubles and a triple. The 25-year-old signed with the Padres as an undrafted free agent in 2024. … Kaden Hollow could also get some starts behind the dish. The former Utah Tech star saw action behind the dish in five games for the Storm last season, in addition to playing first base and right field. Like Vincent, the 24-year-old feasted on complex league pitching, hitting .286/.472/.440 but struggled to a .477 OPS in 19 games for the Storm. 

Infield: Until Cobb Hightower is healthy enough to join them, the Storm infield group will be a bit of a patchwork. Yendry Rojas, who signed for a $1.3 million bonus in the 2022 international class, will finally get his first taste of professional baseball outside of the complex. Last season, the Cuban-born infielder struggled, hitting just .230/.310/.303 while having to shift off shortstop as his primary position. His strikeout rate was under 20 percent, if there was a positive to take away. … B.Y. Choi was the best performer for the complex league Padres, but he struggled in a brief stint with the Storm last season. Choi, 22, produced a 103 wRC+ with the ACL squad with five homers but struck out in a third of his plate appearances in 24 games with the Storm. The former New Mexico Military Institute infielder should receive plenty of playing time early in the season. … Former 17th-rounder Ryan Jackson should see playing time in the middle infield after making his pro debut in the desert late last season. The USC shortstop product signed for $100,000 and hit .261/.404/.283 in 13 games for the ACL Padres. Jackson didn’t show much power in his two years at USC, but he had an on-base percentage north of .400 for the former Pac-12 club. … Zach Evans, the club’s ninth-round pick, will make his professional debut the first time he steps on the field for the Storm. Evans played his college ball at Lenoir-Rhyne, a Division II school in North Carolina. In 51 games for the Bears last season, Evans had a .991 OPS with 11 homers. 

Outfield: With Barnett limited to DH as he works on developing as a two-way player and Kavares Tears and Donte Grant nursing hamstring issues in the desert, the outfield will look very different than it projected six months ago. Daniel Montesino was widely seen as one of the key members of the Padres’ 2021 international class when he signed for $1 million, but he has battled injuries and inconsistent production throughout his career. Tommy John surgery cost him all of the 2022 season. Last year, he played in just eight games in the complex league. … Spence Coffman, a 19th-rounder in 2022, out of high school in Mississippi, was drafted as an infielder but almost played exclusively on the grass last season. Coffman had a solid year for the ACL team in his third pro season, hitting .296/.364/.341 with eight doubles and 19 stolen bases on 21 attempts. He’s added quality muscle mass while maintaining his speed over the offseason. Coffman should roam center field for the Storm to start the year. … Kasen Wells didn’t appear after the Padres drafted him in the 16th round last year, but the speedster will be counted on to be an offensive sparkplug. He started his college career at Texas A&M before transferring to Weatherford College, a junior college in Texas. In one season there, Wells hit .384 and was named the Offensive Player of the Year in the Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference.

On the Spot: Former ninth-rounder Ryan Wilson is back for his second campaign in Lake Elsinore. The former Davidson outfielder posted a solid .361 on-base percentage, buoyed by a 14% walk rate. However, his .282 slugging percentage was the lowest in the Cal League among qualifying hitters. The veteran Cal Leaguer must show more power to stick around throughout the summer.

Under the Radar: 20-year-old Kleiber Olmedo made a late-season cameo for the Storm and tossed four no-hit innings against Inland Empire in a late-season start. While command was an issue, he allowed just four earned runs over his final 15.2 innings with the Storm. He could be an arm to watch at the back of the Storm’s six-man rotation. 

Waiting in the Wings: The Storm roster will likely change over the first few weeks as a few key names get healthy. 2025 fourth-round pick Kavares Tears has battled a hamstring injury, but should be in the mix to appear in Lake Elsinore at some point soon. Cobb Hightower should follow soon behind. Righty Humberto Cruz and right-handed slugger Kale Fountain, both rehabbing in the desert, could be ticketed for Riverside County by late spring.