Padres Complete Straight-Forward Day Two of Draft

When the second and final day of the newest iteration of Major League Baseball’s draft format got underway Sunday, the Padres had already fired their biggest shots. With first-rounder Coleman Borthwick and second-round pick Elliot Lescalles in the fold, they felt good about their position.

They opened the day by selecting right-hander James Guyette out of Kansas State University. The 21-year-old moved to the rotation for the Wildcats this year after working in relief in 2025, and used a three-pitch mix to punch out 105 batters in 79.1 innings.

Somewhat predictably, the club called college players with each of their next five picks as well, including a pair of seniors from Arizona State in infielder Nu’u Contrades and left-handed reliever Sean Fitzpatrick, and fellow senior left-hander Benjamin Stubbs in the ninth round.

Those moves could reasonably be expected to free up around $700,000 of bonus pool space, leading many observers to anticipate the Padres would call another high school player or two when the draft got back underway with the eleventh round. Instead, the club plowed through round after round with more college players.

“We just love what we did all the way around – pitchers, hitters, high school, college – I just love the whole class,” said Padres vice president of scouting Chris Kemp.

They finally broke ranks in the 17th round, calling the name of Denton Lord, who was a classmate of Borthwick’s. Lord, who at 18-years old, is already 6-foot-8, had earlier in the day announced that he intends to honor his commitment to Mississippi State University.

It is not uncommon for teams to draft one or two highly regarded high school players whom they have little chance of signing, in case something falls through with an early selection or there are irregularities on medical records. It remains likely Lord will head to Starkville in the fall.

“We just want to take a shot, and you never know what happens,” said Kemp. “We’ll see what happens.”

The Padres went back to the college ranks, drafting catcher Mark Quatrani out of Notre Dame and left-handed reliever Chris Downs from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, before finally drafting another high school player with their 20th and final pick who is likely to sign. They wrapped the day by selecting Phoenix-area prep outfielder Ezekiel Zion, who Padres scouts think was underrated by much of the industry.

“Our area scout, Max Kraust, had done a great job identifying Zion early-on in the process. He led the state of Arizona in average, RBIs, on-base,” said Kemp. “We believe he’s a sleeper bat.”

In all, the Padres selected collegiate performers with 17 or their 21 picks.

The Padres and all clubs are navigating a different set of realities in the draft with the emergence of “Name-Image-Likeness” payments from colleges to attract and retain players.

“Back in the day – not too many years ago – a college junior taken in that $100-$150,000, they’re signing,
said Kemp. “Now you’re seeing a lot of college programs match that or go even more and convince the kid to come back as seniors.”

There is also impact on high school players even before they arrive on campus.

“You’re seeing certain guys that could be signable, and those bigger colleges are coming with really big NIL packages,” Kemp said on a post-draft call. “It seems to be getting a little closer to the basketball side of things where you hear rumblings of what certain kids are getting, and you’re going ‘wow, okay.’ The landscape is changing.”

Teams have until Monday, July 27 to come to agreement with their selections. They will also continue to be aggressive in the market for undrafted free agents. Within hours of the completion of the draft, they already had agreements in place with eight players, more than any other team in baseball.

There full draft class is below.

Round	Overall Pick	Player	Position	School	Birthdate
1	21	Coleman Borthwick	RHP	South Walton HS	4/13/2008
2	60	Elliot Lascelles	SS	Upper Canada College HS	2/8/08
3	97	Ryan Lynch	RHP	UNC	6/13/05
4	124	Robbie Lavey	C	GW	9/3/05
4(c)	134	Alex Conover	OF	Oklahoma State	8/31/05
5	157	James Guyette	RHRP	Kansas State	2/3/05
6	186	Nu’u Contrades	INF	Arizona State	10/6/03
7	215	Joe Tiroly	2B	University of Virginia	5/25/05
8	245	Sean Fitzpatrick	LHP	ASU	6/19/03
9	275	Benjamin Stubbs	LHP	Troy	2/3/04
10	305	Augie Lopez	C	USC	6/10/05
11	335	Chris McHugh	1B	NC State	7/27/05
12	365	Rob Evans	LHP	Miami	12/19/03
13	395	Michael Smith, Jr	OF	Dayton	4/12/05
14	425	Ty Brachbill	RHP	High Point	7/10/2004
15	455	Ryan Kucherak	SS	Northwestern	8/24/04
16	485	Albert Roblez	RHRP	Oregon State	7/28/03
17	515	Denton Lord	RHP	South Walton HS	11/30/07
18	545	Mark Quatrani	C	Notre Dame	10/8/04
19	575	Chris Downs	RHP	Cal Poly SLO	7/25/05
20	605	Ezekiel Zion	OF	Campo Verde HS	11/2/07