Quote from MrPadre19 on July 18, 2025, 11:43 am

As with a couple of the guys drafted they must see potential in the spin rate/velocity etc?

Guys they  think they can "fix"?

 

Quote from fenn68 on July 18, 2025, 11:55 am

Quote from MrPadre19 on July 18, 2025, 11:43 am

As with a couple of the guys drafted they must see potential in the spin rate/velocity etc?

Guys they  think they can "fix"?

 

Probably "something" makes them more useful as ... if nothing else ... a system guy. However, they needed to draft some players and after the first four would seem going for college seniors who will sign for as little as possible from the Padres perspective ... that was the first criteria ... then do they have anything to work with.

Maybe all long shots but ... especially pitchers ... can get it together late (control , new pitch, etc) and move up the system if they have at least one plus starting point.

Quote from brent wolff on July 19, 2025, 1:09 pm

ESPN put out an updated Top 10 Prospects included players just drafted, this is what they have for the Pads.

Top 10 prospects

Rank	Name	Position	Previous rank
1.	Leodalis de Vries	SS	1
2.	Ethan Salas	C	2
3.	Kruz Schoolcraft	LHP	2025 draft
4.	Kash Mayfield	LHP	3
5.	Boston Bateman	LHP	6
6.	Cobb Hightower	SS	5
7.	Kale Fountain	1B	8
8.	Humberto Cruz	RHP	4
9.	Bryan Balzer	RHP	7
10.	Deivid Coronil	SS	9

ESPN also provided this following:

Where they stand entering trade season: 2025 draft pick Ty Harvey and Bradgley Rodriguez were two of the late cuts. With two full draft classes since the Padres cleared out their system depth in deals for major leaguers, there are now some interesting players here who could be part of a playoff team one day.

De Vries is definitely off limits for potential deadline deals and I think Salas' value is down to where it wouldn't be smart to trade him, so anyone below Schoolcraft (who can't be traded until the winter) would seem to be on the table for the right player.

Quote from brent wolff on July 19, 2025, 1:11 pm

The only surprise for me is Balzer over Henry Baez.  I don't know much about Balzer, anyone got some info. on him?

Thanks in advance for any replies.  Go Pads!

Quote from fenn68 on July 19, 2025, 1:56 pm

From Jim Callis this spring:

Balzer was more of a first baseman/outfielder growing up as a Japanese-American in Japan, and the Padres knew he needed Tommy John surgery. That didn't stop them from signing him for $10,000 as a right-handed pitcher in January '23.

Recovering from his elbow reconstruction, Balzer didn't make his pro debut until last July, when he pitched in six games in the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League. Though he's relatively anonymous, the 20-year-old features one of the best arms in the system.

"Bryan has a really interesting arm," Daly said. "He's 6-foot-1 but he's athletic, throws in the upper 90s with life on his fastball. He has a mid-80s slider, too."

---

Given his minimal experience as a pitcher ... surprised he was put ahead of Baez and Nett ... even Mendez. Someone had a sales pitch on "stuff" over track record.

Quote from Randy Manese on July 20, 2025, 6:38 am

While I don't disagree with ESPN's list of prospects, I would hesitate to say they are our top prospects in that order because the track record for most is very limited.  There are more productive players in the system this year who still can be considered prospects and I especially have enjoyed watching Mendez pitch and Brian Butterworth's overall play.  We have several high-end RP, two of whom are already on the major league roster, and should continue to dominate, if healthy.

Unfortunately, except for some pitching prospects (both SP and RP) there are few players who are ready to contribute at the major league level now with the timeline looking like 2 years out.  For that reason, I can see us trading for some bats to keep us in the playoff race both this year and next despite again depleting the list of long-term prospects listed above.

Quote from fenn68 on July 20, 2025, 7:18 am

I do think the Padres have a pretty deep pool of pitching prospects and likely will have to use some to add some position players that will help the ML club in the near term. Don't think the Padres have the cash to fully work in the FA market.

However, to varying degrees all teams have their own prospects they like, so the trade value (even of some of the better Padre prospects) has some limitations ... probably yielding more short term / "average" ML types. Still may have to go that route given the need for position players while walking the line knowing the failure rate of pitching prospects and the potential FA of King / Cease short run then Pivetta after next year, Musgrove (2 more control years) and Darvish (3 more control years). Padres may be in a position of needing a complete change out of five SP in 3 years. Not sure the current crop of prospects can handle that ... so trading the top SP prospects is a different kind of risk.

Tough go for Preller balancing short term (during the peak years of Machado,  Cronenworth, and Bogaerts) with the objective of producing an annual competitive team.

 

Quote from Randy Manese on July 20, 2025, 11:15 am

Padres had two starters in the Dominican summer league all-star game.  Abraham Bastidas, normally a 2b, started at 1b and hit a grand slam HR; he drew a walk in his other plate appearance.  Moises Valdez, normally a CF, started at DH and tripled in his one AB.  Thought the Padres would have more representatives on the NL team but with 52 teams in the DSL, no room for a guy like Fabian Alcantara or one of their many pitchers who are doing surprisingly well this year in a league that typically features many walks, hit batters, wild pitches and generally awful defense.  By the way, the Padres Gold team is 1/2 game behind division leader at the break with a 22-11 record; the Padres Brown team is 17-16 and in 3rd place in its division.

Quote from MrPadre19 on July 20, 2025, 4:30 pm

Remind me again why Jonathan Perlaza has not had a shot yet?