After A Long Rehab, Padres’ Dylan Lesko Gets Back On The Mound
The Padres invested heavily in pitching in the 2022 draft.
Supplemental first-round lefthander Robby Snelling was a first-half standout who pitched his way to High-A as a 19-year-old. Second-round righthander Adam Mazur met the challenges of the Midwest League as a collegian starting his career at High-A.
Now, the prize of the class was off and running.
First-round righthander Dylan Lesko began his professional career on June 20 in the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League. It wasn’t a clean start, but it was a start nonetheless.
After rehabbing from Tommy John surgery for more than a year, Lesko just getting on the mound was a victory for the 15th overall pick out of Buford (Ga.) High.
Lesko recorded only one out—a strikeout—while allowing three runs on two hits and a walk. He also threw two wild pitches, but the Padres were happy that he was back and healthy.
“It’s been a long 14 months,” Padres assistant farm director Mike Daly said, “so this is a huge day to celebrate—him being back on the mound and competing.”
The Padres signed Lesko, now 19, for $3.9 million, jumping at the chance to select a player who had been viewed as a potential top-five selection before having surgery in the spring of his senior year.
The organization didn’t know for sure how long Lesko would stay in Arizona. But he was viewed as an advanced prep pitcher before the draft, and he throws an advanced changeup—“a superpower of his,” according to Daly—so it’s conceivable that he could reach Low-A Lake Elsinore by the end of the season.
“It’s mid 90s,” Daly said of Lesko’s fastball velocity. “It’s a bunch of strikes. The feel for the changeup is there. We’ll look to build him up from there.”
FATHER FIGURES
— Outfielder Tirso Ornelas hit six homers and hit .378/.434/.656 in June, helping Double-A San Antonio clinch a first-half division title. For the season, the 23-year-old Ornelas was up to nine homers, 46 RBIs and a .260/.358/.423 batting line in a year that started with a return to Double-A before moving to Triple-A El Paso.
— Righthander Alek Jacob was also a boon to the Missions’ first-half title run, striking out 31 batters over 26.1 innings out of the bullpen. Jacob was drafted in the 16th round in 2021 out of Purdue and posted a 2.68 ERA as he climbed three levels last year, though he had a 6.59 ERA in his first 13.2 innings at hitter-friendly El Paso.
