San Diego Padres MLB Draft History And Projections

As we approach the 2018 MLB Draft on June 4, we’ll break down each major league team’s recent draft history, picking out tendencies where applicable, highlighting the team’s 2018 draft pool and also touching on the organization’s most successful recent draft picks.

Additionally, each team is listed with potential draft targets. These players either fit the typical modus operandi of the organization or are players who have been specifically linked or rumored as fits with a team throughout the spring. Baseball America will continue to add and subtract players from the potential draft target section as we continue to gather information in the final weeks leading up to the draft. Players are listed with a line of skinny to get a quick idea of who they are, but our full scouting reports will give a more complete picture of a player.

It’s also worth pointing out that while in some cases a team might appear to have a clear tendency with certain demographics (i.e., high school pitchers or college hitters), the sample we are looking at is small enough that teams could simply be following a best player available strategy and the results are showing something that’s not an overarching scouting philosophy. It’s more likely that tendencies can be discovered at the extremes, rather than slight apparent preferences in the last five years.

Here is a breakdown of the recent MLB Draft history of the San Diego Padres:

General Manager: A.J. Preller
Scouting Director: Mark Conner
2018 Bonus Pool (Rank): $10,462,200 (7th)

2018 MLB Draft Order:

1st Round: 7th

Supplemental 1st Round: 38th

Supplemental 2nd Round: 74th (Acquired from the Twins along with Phil Hughes in a trade that sent Janigson Villalobos to Minnesota)

3rd Round: 84th

4th-40: 7th in each round.

First Round Picks Since 2013:

2017: MacKenzie Gore (2nd)

2016: Cal Quantrill (8th), Hudson Potts (24th), Eric Lauer (25th)

2014: Trea Turner (13th)

2013: Hunter Renfroe (13th)

Best Recent Pick (2010-2017 Drafts):

SS Trea Turner (No. 13 overall, 2014) produced 6.3 bWAR from his 2015 debut season through 2017 with the Nationals, playing middle infield and outfield during that time and batting .304/.348/.491. Of course, the Padres haven’t seen any value from Turner after trading him as a player to be named later along with Joe Ross to the Nationals in a three-way trade with the Rays that netted the Padres Will Myers, Ryan Hanigan, Gerardo Reyes and Jose Castillo.

Recent Tendencies (Last Five Years/Top Five Rounds):

The Padres love taking high school players and they also love taking position players. Over the last five years in the top five rounds, San Diego has selected 58.6 percent prep players—second behind only the Orioles—and 58.6 percent hitters—behind the Mets, Pirates and Mariners.

The love of high school selections seems to have come from scouting director Mark Conner, who has been in charge for the 2015-2017 drafts for the Padres. Prior to Conner, Billy Gasparino was the team’s scouting director. Gasparino had 11 top-five round selections between the 2013 and 2014 drafts, and he took six college players and five prep players.

Since Conner’s first year in 2015, the Padres have had 18 top-five round selections and 12 of those (66.7 percent) have gone to high school players. Organizationally, the Padres have some of the best pitching depth in the majors, so perhaps Conner and Preller will look to target impact power bats that the system currently lacks.

Potential Draft Targets:

LHP Matthew Liberatore — A projectable lefthander who’s been up to 96 mph at times, Liberatore has three potential plus pitches and good feel for each

1B/3B Alec Bohm — A corner infielder with immense power in his bat, Bohm has a sound plan and approach in the batter’s box

LHP Shane McClanahan — An electrifying, albeit sporadic, lefthander with some of the best pure stuff in the class, McClanahan has a fastball that tickles 100 mph

OF Travis Swaggerty — Swaggerty is a potential five-tool talent with a real shot to stick in center field who showed increased power this spring

RHP Carter Stewart — Stewart has the best breaking ball in the 2018 class in a powerful, downer curveball—oh, and he’s touched 98 mph this spring

RHP Cole Winn — One of the most consistent prep arms this spring, there are no real holes to speak of in Winn’s game

OF Jarred Kelenic — Solid in every area, Kelenic is one of the best pure hitters in the prep class and scouts are expecting more power to come

RHP Kumar Rocker — Big, physical and imposing, Rocker has loud pure stuff, including a fastball up to 98 mph and a breaking ball that falls off the table

SS Brice Turang — An athletic, lefthanded-hitting shortstop with plus speed and great feel for the barrel, Turang is more polished than most preps

3B Nolan Gorman — Gorman is a slugging third baseman with near top-of-the-scale raw power and a strong arm, but has some questions about his feel to hit