ESPN’s lead baseball analyst, Keith Law just rated the Padres farm system as the best in baseball. However, you don’t have to wait another three to five years to see many of the organization’s elite prospects. That is because the San Antonio Missions, the Padres Double-A affiliate, just announced that individual game tickets for the San Antonio Missions 2012 season will go on sale, Monday, March 19.

Here is all the information you need:

San Antonio – Individual game tickets for the San Antonio Missions 2012 season will go on sale Monday, March 19th. Tickets can be purchased at the Missions ticket office from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday thru Friday, over the phone at (210) 675-7275 or anytime on-line at www.samissions.com.

Fans who purchase their tickets on-line will have the option of printing their tickets from home.

Individual ticket prices for the 2012 season are as follows (excluding July 4th):

• Lower Box                   $11.00
• Upper Box                   $10.00
• Upper Reserved          $  9.00
• Outfield Reserve         $  8.00
• Berm Seating               $  5.00

San Antonio’s home opener is Thursday, April 5th against the Tulsa Drillers (Colorado Rockies) at 7:05 pm. Opening night festivities will include the raising of the Missions 2011 Texas League Championship banner and championship ring ceremony.

In 2012, the Missions will defend their title as Texas League Champions in their quest for  back-to-back Championships. Future Padres stars who will be playing for the Missions include third baseman Edison Rincon, relief pitcher Erik Hamren,  and LHP Juan Pablo Oramas.

Well, that call has finally come, and the West Virginia alum will go to Fort Wayne after 26 games of .330/.383/.528 hitting.

The 21-year-old’s K/BB (26/9) was a bit disturbing, but he pounded five homers and six doubles and looked to be every bit of the advanced bat he was supposed to be.

It’s unclear what Gyorko’s promotion means for Fort Wayne third baseman Edinson Rincon‘s position, as well as Gyorko’s. There’s speculation that Gyorko could be tried at second or that Rincon, who’s made 32 errors this year, could be moved off of third. Rincon could also get a promotion to Lake Elsinore: he’s hitting decently enough that it wouldn’t be ludicrous, and someone w

That got me thinking about what a difference it is between the minors and the majors defensively.

After all, in the minors, teams will give prospects every shot to stay at more difficult positions, whereas if it isn’t working by the time they’re on the doorstep of the majors, they finally get switched to a position they can succeed at.

Furthermore, there’s also the simple matter of getting more reps and defensive coaching bringing down the miscues.

I bring this up because it’s pretty staggering to look at the error totals as you move down the Padres affiliates.

Nobody on the AAA Portland team has double-digit errors. Craig Stansberry has nine, Chris Stewart eight, and Sean Kazmar seven.

Moving down to AA San Antonio, Andrew Parrino has 10 errors, Logan Forsythe eight (and he’s in his first year at second), and Beamer Weems eight as well. So, slightly more, but right around Portland’s level.

Things start getting sloppier in High-A Lake Elsinore, where Drew Cumberland made 17 errors and Vince Belnome 15. Belnome also has undergone a position switch this year, and Cumberland’s seen work at several spots. Nobody else there has over five errors, but Cumberland (who’s since been promoted) and Belnome stick out after all the low error totals in the upper minors.

Things then get really ugly in Low-A Fort Wayne, as Edinson Rincon has 26 misplays and Jonathan Galvez 25. Jeudy Valdez and Dean Anna also have 10 apiece.

This doesn’t make Rincon, Galvez, Cumberland, and Belnome all future Jack Cust types in the field–it just is something that happens naturally. They’re all being challenged to play difficult positions, and they simply haven’t gotten that many pro reps in to have defensive consistency.

So don’t get too worked up over the error totals. It’s just the sort of things that happen.