Perdomo Leads Quartet Of Padres’ Rule 5 Picks
SAN DIEGO—As he restocks a prospect pool from which he dealt heavily last offseason, general manager A.J. Preller has used several avenues to acquire young talent.
He acquired seven prospects in offseason deals involving Yonder Alonso, Joaquin Benoit and Craig Kimbrel. He set himself up to get two 2016 draft picks by extending qualifying offers to free agents Justin Upton and Ian Kennedy.
In addition, Preller went big at the Rule 5 draft, selecting two players in the major league phase and then trading for two others and adding all four to the 40-man roster.
The top-ranked prospect of the four is 22-year-old righthander Luis Perdomo, a product of the Cardinals system whom San Diego purchased from the Rockies.
Perdomo will compete for a 2016 rotation spot after going 6-12, 3.98 in 23 games (22 starts) at two Class A levels in 2015.
“(Perdomo has) a really good body. He’s a good athlete,” Preller said. “He has arm strength, throws in the mid-90s. We’ve seen him start. (Senior adviser) Logan White saw him at the Futures Game and earlier in the year, a seven-inning outing.”
The Padres’ other three Rule 5 selections were 26-year-old right fielder Jabari Blash, a Mariners prospect drafted by the Athletics and then sent to San Diego to complete the Alonso trade; 26-year-old Indians righty reliever Josh Martin and 28-year-old White Sox righty reliever Blake Smith.
Keeping four Rule 5 picks on the active 25-man roster in 2016 would obviously be a challenge. The Padres can’t send Blash, Martin, Perdomo or Smith to the minors while they carry Rule 5 restrictions, and if they want to deactivate one of them, they must waive him and, if he clears, offer him back to his original club for $25,000.
But the Padres have an opportunity to take longer looks, because, coming off their eighth losing season in nine years, they’re still in rebuilding mode.
Preller said it would be “fun” to see all four players stick with the Padres.
“It’s not easy to do,” he said. “We’re not going to give out any scholarships. They’ve got to earn their way.”
FATHER FIGURES
• Blash mashed 32 home runs between Double-A Jackson and Triple-A Tacoma in the Mariners system in 2015.
• White drafted Smith, a former outfielder, for the Dodgers. He made three stops in the White Sox system in 2015 and recorded 64 strikeouts in 53 innings.
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