A Complete San Diego Padres Draft Review

Well, I finally got all the draft profiles done, so it’s time to take a look at the Padres’ draft as a whole.

I entered the draft hoping the Padres would nab some high-upside arms and good catching prospects early, and pick the best players available beyond that.

They came through with flying colors on the pitching side of things, taking stud righty Karsten Whitson with their first pick and taking three other possible studs in Zack Cates, John Barbato, and A.J. Vanegas. Other arms, like Josh Spence and Miguel Pena, have a chance to be useful as well.

The Padres didn’t go the catching route until Round 14, taking Tommy Medica, who is an offensive terror. The Padres got some great offensive catchers (Medica, Bryan Altman, Cole Tyrell) and some shutdown defensive guys (Rocky Gale, Justin Echevarria), but never got that one two-way catcher I was hoping for. Oh well. Puts more pressure on Nick Hundley long-term; hope he can handle it.

I was relatively pleased with the top ten selections. I have some concerns about fourth-rounder Chris Bisson’s game, and Josh Spence is really iffy due to injury concerns and a lack of velocity, but I liked the other eight selections in terms of pure talent.

Beyond pure talent, of course, there is signability, and that’s what this draft hinges on. Two of the aforementioned four potential stud arms, sixth-rounder John Barbato and seventh-rounder A.J. Vanegas, are going to need way-over-slot bonuses to sign, and if neither does, then the draft crop looks a bit bleaker. Sure, the Padres could use that money to ink 45th-rounder Michael Fagan and 48th-rounder Daniel Child, but they’re less certain to succeed than Barbato and Vanegas, and Whitson would be left as the only true top-of-the-rotation prospect from the draft.

Beyond my big ado over pitchers and catchers, there’s the matter of everyone else the Padres got, and I thought they generally did a good job. Jablonski Noel was a huge steal in the fifth round, Jedd Gyorko can hit, Jose Dore looks very good, and the Padres nabbed some advanced college bats (Wes Cunningham, Connor Powers, Oscar Garcia) late in the draft who could turn into this year’s Vince Belnome and Cody Decker.

As far as talent drafted here, I’d give the Padres a B+ grade, marred only by the Bisson slipup and failure to pop a catcher early. But it really depends on Barbato, Vanegas, and Dore signing if the Padres are to really reap huge benefits from this draft. If none of those three do, the draft gets down to the C+ range.

Chicken Friars 2010 San Diego Padres Draft Profiles
1.) HS RHP Karsten Whitson
2.) West Virginia INF Jedd Gyorko
3.) Juco RHP Zack Cates
4.) Kentucky 2B Chris Bisson
5.) Coastal Carolina OF Jablonski “Rico” Noel
6.) HS RHP John Barbato
7.) HS RHP A.J. Vanegas
8.) HS OF Jose Dore
9.) Arizona State LHP Josh Spence
10.) Juco OF Houston Slemp
11.) California SS Brian Guinn
12.) Southeastern Lousiana RHP Chris Franklin
13.) Juco LHP Miguel Pena
14.) Santa Clara C Tommy Medica
15.) HS OF/1B Sean Dwyer
16.) HS OF Connor Hofmann
17.) Murray State 1B Wes Cunningham
18.) Juco OF Dan Meeley
19.) Juco RHP Tyler Norwood
20.) Indiana University of Pennsylvania SS Paul Bingham
21.) Mississippi State 1B Connor Powers
22.) Kennesaw State 2B Tyler Stubblefield
23.) Arizona State C Xorge Carrillo
24.) Portland C Rocky Gale
25.) HS LHP Josue Montanez
26.) HS OF Cory Hahn
27.) South Carolina Upstate RHP Matt Branham
28.) HS 3B Jacoby Almaraz
29.) Juco OF Mykal Stokes
30.) HS LHP D.J. Snelten
31.) Northwestern State OF Oscar Garcia
32.) Juco RHP Will Scott
33.) Western Carolina RHP Daniel Ottone
34.) Loyola Marymount RHP Xavier Esquivel
35.) HS RHP Michael Ellis
36.) Fairfield RHP Rob Gariano
37.) Juco RHP Allen Marona
38.) Wheeling Jesuit LHP Noah Mull
39.) Southwest Minnesota State RHP Adam Schrader
40.) Stony Brook C Justin Echevarria
41.) The Citadel C Bryan Altman
42.) Dayton C Cole Tyrell
43.) University of British Columbia LHP Mark Hardy
44.) Kent State RHP Robert Sabo
45.) HS LHP Michael Fagan
46.) HS OF Dominick Francia
47.) HS C/3B Kraig Kelley
48.) HS RHP Daniel Child
49.) Connecticut LHP Elliot Glynn
50.) UC Santa Barbara OF Gunnar Terhune