We have reached the point of the offseason where prospect lists abound. We continue our top 10 prospects for every team with the San Diego Padres!
Our team top 10 prospect lists at Call to the Pen are spearheaded by Benjamin Chase. Today, he gives us the top ten prospects for the San Diego Padres.
This season, we will be going through teams by division, in order of 2017 record. The AL East will be first, followed by the AL Central and AL West. Then the focus will shift to the National League in the same order.
The format will be as it was last season for the same lists, with a system review, which will include last season’s list. The top 10 will follow in reverse order, two players per page in order to give adequate space to each player. Major trades or international signings will lead to an updated top 10!
Finally, don’t go away after #1 is revealed as each list will also contain a player either signed in the 2017 international free agent class or drafted in 2017 that isn’t part of the top 10 and should be tracked. Last season’s mentions in that area made over half of the top 10s this season, so this is a great way to get to know a player who could be making a big splash in the organization.
System overview
The San Diego Padres made a big push for contention in 2015 and saw injuries and poor performances shoot down the work that General Manager A.J. Preller had done to build the major league team. After that season, Preller embarked on a massive rebuild that has led to the Padres trading away nearly every major part of that 2015 team other than Cory Spangenberg and Wil Myers of players who had more than 60 games in that season.
That major league purge has quickly turned the San Diego Padres into one of the premier farm systems in the major leagues. With smart Latin signings, a big push into the Cuban market, and sharp drafting, the Padres have built an enviable system.
As the major league team starts to see some of the pieces of the farm system filter in this season and especially next season, the farm system’s top rating could start to slip a little, but there is such tremendous depth in this system that from roughly #8 to about #19-23 in the system could really be interchangeable depending on who was doing the rating.
Let’s take a look at that system….
Next: #9 and #10