Padres Prospects Week in Review: April 15-20

Key Roster Moves: With the big league club hemorrhaging from injuries, Connor Joe, Tirso Ornelas and Mason McCoy all came up from El Paso. That opened space with the Chihuahuas for Tim Locastro, who re-signed with the team after spring training was underway. The Padres also bolstered their upper-level center field depth by trading Brett Sullivan to the Pirates in exchange for a second go-around with Bryce Johnson, who won’t be added to the 40-player roster without other major injury losses. At the other end of the system, Kavares Tears, Alex McCoy, Bodi Rascon and Miguel Mendez were all part of a huge wave of reinforcements to join Lake Elsinore for the week.

MadFriars site and media updates: Subscribers had the chance to read Clark’s look at the bump in production from Romeo Sanabria, and John’s interview with outfielder Kai Roberts, who is working back from a hamstring injury he suffered in the Spring Breakout game.

The MadFriars team made dueling media appearances last Thursday. David had a call-in with Jon & Jim touching on who was still in El Paso as an option for the big league club and hot starts across the system. Meanwhile John was at least the third-best guest from his basement on Darnay Tripp’s On Friar podcast, and he got a chance to talk Bryan Balzer with Marty Caswell.

El Paso Chihuahuas (Split series at Albuquerque Isotopes 3-3)

Top Performers: Sometimes timing really is everything. Mason McCoy enjoyed the type of series that draws attention when the big club needs a replacement. Of course, the Padres were already running thin on options when Luis Arraez went on the IL with a concussion, but McCoy made it an easy decision by producing a .550 average and 1.491 OPS in 20 at-bats against the Isotopes, including four doubles and a home run. McCoy was batting .328 with a .947 OPS in 67 at-bats in his second season with El Paso. … In a series driven by offense, the standout pitching performance belonged to Austin Krob, who picked up a no decision with four-plus innings of two-run ball, striking out six batters in the process. Krob, a 25-year-old southpaw out of TCU, is 0-1 with a 5.02 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 14.1 innings in his first Triple-A season.

Top Prospects and Others of Note: The Grateful Dead first covered Marty Robbins’ “El Paso” on July 14, 1970 in San Rafael, California. The 395th and final time the band played the tune was 1,846 concerts later on July 5, 1995 in Maryland Heights, Missouri. Tirso Ornelas made his professional debut on June 24, 2017 in Peoria, Arizona, and wrapped before finally getting the call up on April 18, 2025 a time period which spanned 2,790 at-bats. What these dates and places have to do with each other is not important; what is of note is that Ornelas, who went 5-for-16 (.313) in the series, is finally getting his big league shot with the Padres. … With McCoy and Ornelas now gone, Luis Campusano is the last position player on the 40-man roster left standing in El Paso. The 26-year-old backstop continues to feast on Triple-A pitching, slugging a pair of home runs, a triple, and a double and posting a 1.361 OPS in 19 at-bats in the series. The 2017 second-rounder owns a whopping 1.226 OPS in 62 at-bats for El Paso thus far in 2025. … Veteran infielder Nate Mondou went 8-for-17 (.471) with a trio of doubles and a triple to garner a 1.336 OPS for the series. Mondou is excelling at the start of his second campaign as a Chihuahua, batting .324 with a .910 OPS in 34 at-bats. … Reiss Knehr is showing promise in his reliever era and was rock solid in the ninth in the series, converting save opportunities in a pair of scoreless outings. The 28-year-old righty, a familiar face for his utility and spot start work for the Padres’ pitching staff, is coming off Tommy John surgery and getting in work as a reliever. He has posted a 4.76 ERA and nine strikeouts in five-plus innings of work. (Special Pinch Hitter Mark Wilkens)

San Antonio Missions (Split series with Northwest Arkansas Naturals 3-3)

Players of the Week: Another week, another pair of scoreless outings for reliever David Morgan. Morgan also extended his streak of appearances with at least two strikeouts to six games. He turned in arguably his most impressive outing of the season on April 19, striking out three in two innings of work, generating nine whiffs, and a 60% Whiff Rate. Morgan’s 6.2 innings without a run this season are no fluke as he owns a 0.38 FIP and a 51.9% strikeout rate while walking just 3.7% of batters. … Shortstop Francisco Acuña was easily the most productive Missions hitter with at least 20 trips to the plate. The minor league free agent signee went 8-for-23 with his first homer since the 2023 season. The diminutive 25-year-old posted an .897 OPS despite not drawing a walk, and swiped three bases once he was on base. Acuña has been the Missions’ everyday shortstop.

Top Prospects and Others of Note: It wasn’t his most dominant outing, but Braden Nett once again flashed in his start. In four innings of work, Nett allowed one earned run despite navigating four hits and a pair of walks, collecting six strikeouts on 77 pitches. Nett didn’t generate a ton of whiffs by his standards, but still got eight, good for a 30.7% swing-and-miss rate. For most of the night, Nett’s fastball sat at 94-95 mph, topping out at 97. Nett’s slider remained in the low- to mid-80s with tight spin and solid depth. Nett now owns a 1.64 ERA, 3.34 FIP, and 34.7% K rate for the season. Most importantly, his command has slightly improved. He has walked 10.2% of batters this year, down more than a quarter from last season’s rate. … Jagger Haynes pieced together his most impressive start of the season, settling in nicely for 5.2 scoreless innings while allowing four hits and one walk, striking out two. The left-hander racked up nine whiffs and a 28.1% whiff rate in his start, showing off a slider with solid depth that proved extremely effective against left-handers. In his showdowns against MLB Pipeline’s number 20 overall prospect Jac Caglianone, Haynes got three whiffs and a strikeout from the left-handed hitter via the slider. … Bradgley Rodriguez continued to manhandle Texas League hitters, punching out five in 2.1 innings while allowing no walks and only one hit. Wednesday night, he generated a 33% whiff rate while striking out the side. In 7.1 innings on the year, he claims a 1.23 ERA, 1.17 FIP, 42.9% strikeout rate and has gotten an elite 18.9% swinging strike rate. … Romeo Sanabria cooled off just a touch, but still went 7-for-25 with two extra-base hits, including his third home run of the year. Sanabria’s power numbers continue to trend upward this season. He left the yard only one time in his 140 plate appearances with the Missions last season. He has already tripled that number in only 65 PAs in 2025. Subscribers can read more about how his focus on pulling more fly balls has helped Sanabria post a 175 wRC+, .439 wOBA, and .996 OPS in 14 games. … Ethan Salas had only 11 plate appearances on the week, going 1-for-8 with a double and two walks. He left Thursday night’s game after coming up a bit hobbled running the bases and did not return to the lineup over the weekend. His health will obviously be a key storyline to watch. Even with a wRC+ of only 75 and .118 batting average, Salas is still taking good at-bats and reaching base thanks to a 14.6% walk rate. He has more walks (6) than strikeouts (5) on the season. … Former undrafted free agent Devin Ortiz, 26, went 6-for-23 with a pair of doubles, three walks, and three RBIs against the Naturals. In San Antonio’s Sunday loss, Ortiz was one of the few bright spots, going 3-for-5 with a pair of ringing doubles and an RBI. Through 15 games, Ortiz has settled in nicely with San Antonio, posting a 145 wRC+, .839 OPS, and a .327 average. (Clark Fahrenthold)

Fort Wayne TinCaps (Split series with Lake County Captains 3-3)

Players of the Week: Through the first 10 games of the season, no TinCap batter had more than one home run. But over three days, Rosman Verdugo hit four more and collected 22 total bases. Not only was this noteworthy for a TinCaps team dearly lacking power production, but for Verdugo, who in 2023 hit three home runs in 113 games for Lake Elsinore. He suddenly finds himself second in the Midwest League in home runs and raised his OPS from .497 last Tuesday to 1.047 after Friday’s game.  He did end the week going 0-for-8 to lower his OPS back down to .882, but it was still a fantastic week for the 20-year-old from Ensenada. … After a solid but unspectacular professional debut, Clark Candiotti was close to unhittable in his second outing.  The former Arizona Wildcat struck out eight over 3.2 innings, allowing just one hit. During his 65-pitch outing, Candiotti allowed only one ball out of the infield.

Top Prospects and Others of Note: After being removed from the game on Tuesday, Leo De Vries got hit in the head by a ball during batting practice on Wednesday and had to sit out that contest as well. He returned on Thursday and hit his first High-A home run.  The 18-year-old went 5-for-12 on the week with two doubles, a triple, and a home run, good for a .294/.368/.706 line. … Brandon Butterworth had six hits to raise his batting average to a team-leading .302. The 22-year-old from NC State has not hit for much power, but he stole his first base of the year while splitting time between second and shortstop. … Nerwilian Cedeno collected five hits, all singles, slashing .312/.353/.312 on the week. The switch-hitter is working in center field for the first time as he repeats Fort Wayne for the third year.  … If it wasn’t for Verdugo exploding, Jack Costello would have been the home run leader for the week. The former USD Torero had two home runs as he hit .240/.269/.480. …  After starting the week 0-for-8, Braedon Karpathios reached base seven times over the next two days, including three doubles, a home run, and two walks.  After breaking out last year (.252/.388/.385), the undrafted free agent out of Maryland currently leads the team with a .397 on-base percentage and has walked 10 times in 14 games. … After two tough outings the previous week, Garrett Hawkins was back to dominating.  Across two outings, the 25-year-old allowed one hit in four innings.  He walked three and struck out five. In 8.1 innings this year, Hawkins has allowed three hits while striking out 14. … JuCo signee Ian Koenig tossed four stellar innings of one-run ball on Tuesday. He allowed two hits, walked two, and struck out three.  While the 1.13 ERA this year is more than four runs better than what he did in 12 starts for Lake Elsinore last year, Koenig has walked six in eight innings with only five strikeouts. … After not making it out of the first inning in his second start of the year, Isaiah Lowe met the same fate this week when he was removed again after only two outs. Last year, Lowe never threw fewer than an inning in any start, let alone twice in a row.  The five earned runs also tie his career high.  Through three starts this year, Lowe has a 15.19 ERA with six walks in just 5.1 innings pitched. … After picking up his first professional save two weeks ago, Tyson Neighbors picked up his first professional win in his next outing.  He returned on Sunday and threw two innings for the first time in the organization. The former Kansas State closer struck out seven over 3.1 innings this past week. He did allow his first run, but more importantly, he only walked one. In 7.2 innings this year, Neighbors is up to 16 strikeouts for a cool 47.1% strikeout rate. … Opening day starter Enmanuel Pinales made his third start, going five innings, allowing his first two runs of the year. He struck out a season-high eight batters while only walking one. Pinales has now allowed two runs over 13.2 innings, striking out 19 on the year. (Ben Davey)

Lake Elsinore Storm (Split series at Fresno Grizzlies 3-3)

Top Performers: The Storm’s high-powered offense shined in Fresno, but the club’s continued struggles on the mound led to Lake Elsinore splitting the series against the Single-A affiliate of the Rockies. … Kelvin Hidalgo won California League Player of the Week honors for his efforts against the Storm, but objectively, Storm infielder Zach Evans may have had the better week. Evans tormented the Grizzlies, hitting .526/.609/.789 with two doubles, a homer, and eight RBI. In addition, Evans walked four times and struck out only twice. The 22-year-old was the Padres’ ninth-round pick last season, out of Division II Lenoir-Rhyne in North Carolina. Evans, who stands at 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds, has swung the bat well this season. In 66 plate appearances, Evans, 22, has a .900 OPS this season, and he ranks third in the Cal League with 16 RBI. … Lefty Boston Bateman had a much better outing in his second career assignment, as he dominated the Grizzlies to earn his first professional win. Bateman tossed five innings and allowed just a single hit. He walked one and struck out seven. The big lefty displayed improved command and the dominant stuff from the left side which illustrate the high ceiling that Bateman possesses. The 6-foot-8 lefty can ramp up his fastball to 98 mph creating an uncomfortable at-bat for opposing southpaws. Last year’s second-rounder has struck out 11 batters in 8.1 innings through two starts. 

Top Performers and Others of Note: After struggling for much of last season, outfielder Ryan Wilson has looked much better at the plate in his second run through the California League. The former Davidson outfielder had two doubles and a homer in five games, hitting .444/.565/.722 with five walks and four strikeouts. So far this season, Wilson has an excellent 15% walk rate and a wRC+ of 150. Last season, Wilson put up an 88 wRC+ thanks to a paltry .282 slugging percentage. While he has amassed just 60 plate appearances, Wilson is slugging .429 this season. … Ryan Jackson continued to be an on-base machine for the Storm, as the shortstop racked up nine more walks in route to hitting .304/.500/.478 with two doubles, a triple, and six RBI. In just 15 games, Jackson has walked 25 times – 10 more than any other Cal League batter. He’s walked in exactly one-third of his plate appearances. Over time, Jackson’s walk rate will stabilize, but so far, it’s been fueling a wRC+ of 198 that ranks second in the Cal League. Over time, pitchers may be more aggressive against Jackson, but his on-base prowess has driven the Storm’s offense. Lake Elsinore is second in the circuit with a .792 OPS. … Outfielder Kavares Tears made his much-anticipated debut last week, homering in his first professional game. The organization was patient with the former Tennessee slugger alternating between the outfield and designated hitter. He played in four games, hitting .267/.313/.467 with two RBI. … Kash Mayfield pitched in the series opener, completing four innings of work. He surrendered a homer in the first inning but otherwise pitched well. He allowed two runs, striking out five and walking two. … Two Storm pitchers aside from Bateman delivered a 0.00 ERA for the week. Bernard Jose appeared in two games and pitched 2.1 scoreless innings. The Storm bullpen has largely struggled, but Jose has pitched well when thrown into the mix. Through 8.1 innings, he’s delivered a 3.38 ERA – although his K/9 of 6.75 doesn’t scream dominance. Still, for a team that collectively has an ERA of 7.40, Jose has been a steadying presence. … Adam Conrad made his professional debut last week, pitching two scoreless innings. The Padres signed Conrad out of NAIA Carolina University. (Kevin Charity)