If case you haven’t been paying attention, the San Diego Padres and first-time general manager A.J. Preller have been busy this offseason.
Since the beginning of December, the Padres have added some of baseball’s premier right-handed power hitters through trades in outfielders Justin Upton, Matt Kemp and Wil Myers, as well as catcher Derek Norris.
Amazingly, Preller was able to acquire the aforementioned players without giving up the organization’s three best prospects. However, that’s not to say the club didn’t part with a vast collection of promising young players: SS Trea Turner (will officially be traded in mid-June), LHP Max Fried, RHP Zach Eflin, RHP Joe Ross, RHP Joe Wieland, RHP Burch Smith, CF Mallex Smith, INF Jace Peterson, RHP R.J. Alvarez, 1B Jake Bauers and 3B Dustin Peterson.
Austin Hedges is still one of the better catching prospect in baseball thanks to his elite defensive chops, but his bat dragged behind the rest of his game this past season at Double-A San Antonio.
Outfielder Rymer Liriano returned from Tommy John surgery to light up Double-A and Triple-A, but struggled in his first taste of the major leagues. 2013 first-rounder Hunter Renfroe also enjoyed a strong first full pro season, and then continued to showcase his prodigious power in the Arizona Fall League. Meanwhile, the Padres improved their middle-infield depth at last year’s trade deadline with the acquisitions of second baseman Taylor Lindsey and shortstop Jose Rondon from the Angels in the Huston Street trade.
There were questions about Turner’s bat when he was drafted (No. 13 overall pick in 2014), but the speedy shortstop certainly didn’t have any issues hitting Midwest League pitching last summer. However, he’ll join the Nationals in June as the "player to be named later" in the Myers trade. The Padres also landed a high-upside player in the second round in outfielder Michael Gettys, who’s loaded with tools and top-flight athleticism but is very, very raw and will need considerable time to develop in the minor leagues.
And while the team’s crop of young arms was depleted this offseason through trades, they still have Matt Wisler and Casey Kelly to look forward to in 2015.
Here are the San Diego Padres’ top 10 prospects for the 2015 season.
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