The San Diego Padres are one of the most scouting-driven organizations in baseball. That shows up in many ways, but rarely as much as on the first day of the MLB Draft.
Their penchant for size, tools, and upside once again led the way in the first round of the 2026 draft as they selected high school right-hander Coleman Borthwick with the 21st overall pick.
The 6-foot-6 righty, listed between 245 and 255 pounds, isn’t quite as big as past picks James Wood or Boston Bateman, but he is a physical presence.
“I’ve always been a bigger person than pretty much my whole age group,” said Borthwick in a call with media after his selection as a group of more than 50 family and friends celebrated with him near his home in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida.
That frame has helped him dial his fastball up to the upper-90s, though he hasn’t sat at that premium velocity as often.
“Velocity is great – it’s a great thing to have,” said Borthwick. “But the thing that’s going to get you drafted – the thing that’s going to get you to the big leagues – is being a competitor, learning to throw strikes while being durable.”
The 18-year-old – his April birthday means he skews young for his class – has the sort of understanding of his own game that you’d expect from the son of a high school coach.
“My two-seam is an A-plus. That’s one of my plus-plus pitches that I love to use,” he told the media. “It gets early, weak contact, nobody can really barrel it and it’s a pitch I can throw wherever I want. I can pretty much all my pitches wherever I want, and that’s something that kind of separates me.”
Unlike other pitchers at the top of recent Padres draft classes, Borthwick relies on a hard slider, rather than a change-up as his primary offspeed offering.
“It can get better for sure, but it’s a pitch that’s my K pitch. I can go two-seam in, slider away.”
Borthwick is already a veteran of high-level international competition, including pitching the gold-medal game for Team USA in the Under-18 Baseball World Cup in Japan last fall.
” I’m not a guy that gets nervous. I’m a guy that goes out there to compete. I’ll have butterflies but nerves don’t affect me – it actually helps me,” he recounted. “That was something that carried me through that game, was the want to win for my country.
“I’m not the best player in the country – I know that. I believe I am though, if that makes sense. Any player that steps in the box, I’m going to give them my best. That’s how I play baseball – gritty, dirtbag, old-school. That’s my game.”
Borthwick, who was originally committed to Auburn, but said his chances of signing were “almost 100%,” will likely report to the Peoria Sports Complex the last week of July. The organization could try to get him out to an affiliate by the end of the year like they did with Kruz Schoolcraft last summer.