News, analysis and scouting reports of San Diego Padres Prospects
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This is a list of the best prospects in the Padres’ organization.  To be eligible for this list a player must still posses their rookie status.  Prospects are ranked both by their ultimate potential and the likelihood that they will reach that potential.  The easiest way to understand the rankings is to consider what order players would be selected in if the entire organization were eligible for a draft.  Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) for each prospect is when they would reach the majors if they are able to reach their potential.

If you have any questions or comments about the list, send Jeff a message or post a question to the Padres Prospects Facebook Page.

Updated: February 2012

1) Yasmani Grandal – In his first full season as a professional, Grandal firmly established himself as a legitimate two-way catcher.  He has taken some heat for his receiving skills, but Grandal has enough athleticism and plus arm strength to at least be average defensively down the road.  Combine that with a legitimate middle-of-the-order bat and you’ve got the most intriguing player in a deep Padres system.  ETA: Late 2012

2) Yonder Alonso – Alonso earns the nod over players with higher ceilings below him because of his mix of upside and low bust potential.  With a patient approach and the ability to use all fields Alonso doesn’t quite fit the mold of the traditional first-base masher but should provide the Padres with above average production at the position for years to come. ETA: 2012 Opening Day Continue reading “Top 25 Padres Prospects – Preseason 2012” »

Over the next few weeks we’ll be taking a look how the Padres’ organizational talent stacks up position-by-position.  Anyone included on a roster of any of the US affiliates will be listed.  Be sure to check out the entire Organizational Audit series.

Major League Situation –

Chase Headley

Coming off of a 2010 campaign were he graded out as one of the top third basemen in the league, Headley fought through a tough, injury filled 2011.  While he was long considered the third baseman of the future by the Kevin Towers led Padres regime, Headley is entering his second year of arbitration and should receive a healthy raise, which may cause San Diego to think twice about his value to the team with the positional depth at third in the minors.

James Darnell

It’s impossible to take too much from Darnell’s performance after being called up.  18 games is far from a sample size, but he was able to show that he can hit with a good approach against advanced pitching and that he will not be able to cut it at third base.  While that may not seem like a good thing for Darnell, it actually means that he should get more playing time with the left field position currently in a state of flux in San Diego.

Top Prospect – Continue reading “Padres Organizational Audit: Third Base” »

Some questions have been slightly edited to be shorter and more direct. If you have a question for the next Padres Prospect Mailbag, shoot us an email: mailbag@padresprospects.com

Why is Jason Hagerty barely playing in the Arizona Fall League? Are the Padres in charge of his playing time or does the team’s manager decide it? – Kevin

Hagerty is in an odd position as a Taxi Player in the AFL. This simply means that he is only eligible to play on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Mostly this is a roster spot filled with pitchers who are only in Arizona for light amounts of work and position players who are either under-developed for the competition level or just there as a warm body.

While he has definitely been struggling – .200/.273/.267 – Hagerty is at the end of a very long season that saw the first real level jump of his career.  His sparse playing time has been most evident on defense where Hagerty has three throwing errors in six games.

Outside of Taxi Squad players playing time is divided up fairly evenly with top performers like Jedd Gyorko getting the nod over struggling players to make the game more appealing to the few fans in attendance.  The Padres and other organizations give the players certain things to work on while in Arizona but don’t necessarily have a direct say in playing time unless they explicitly express their preferences to the coaching staff – likely taking place behind the scenes.  Things like pitch counts are heavily monitored by the player’s parent organization.

What are your thoughts on Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod skipping town? – Tim Continue reading “Padres Prospect Mailbag: October” »