San Diego Padres Top 25 Prospects

Can you believe that he’s still only 19? Three years after bursting out of the blocks as a prospect, hitting .267/.350/.487 as a 17-year-old in the Cal League, Salas has since endured the equivalent of two lost seasons. He didn’t hit a lick in 2024, sparking concerns about the viability of his hit tool, and then he missed almost all of 2025 with a back injury. He entered 2026 as the youngest patient to ever come down with a case of prospect fatigue.

While Salas struggled immensely in 2024, there were a few reasons to remain bullish on his offensive development. His underlying contact data was better than his top line production (77% contact rate, 83% in-zone, both fine given the context), and he has the frame and physicality to develop at least above-average raw power. His bat looked quicker last spring, and he has some manipulation to his path. He is late and underneath a lot of fastballs, though, particularly away from him, and he rolls over softer stuff. He can snatch fastballs up around his hands, but otherwise isn’t especially dangerous. Still, even with the back injury, we like the power, and if he becomes as good of a defender as he’s projected here, he can have a one-note offensive skill set and still be a really good player.

About that. Salas is one of the best defensive catchers in minor league baseball. He’s a remarkably supple receiver with elite catch and throw skills, and he draws rave reviews from Padres folks for his work with the pitching staff. He isn’t a great ball blocker, and has had phases where this aspect of his game has looked quite raw, but he’s otherwise the total package behind the plate.

In the week prior to this list’s publication, Salas found his swing and has hit .471 with three bombs in his last four games. Suddenly, after years of concern about his trajectory at the plate and no small amount of hand wringing about his development path, Salas is a 19-year-old plus defensive catcher with a 146 wRC+ in Double-A. Faster than you can snap your fingers, questions in my weekly chats have shifted from “Did the Padres ruin Ethan Salas?” to “Is Ethan Salas an elite prospect again?!” Difficult as it is, let’s all try to remain calm — myself included. Arguably, the most encouraging thing about his year thus far is that he’s stayed healthy. The grades themselves haven’t budged from the offseason report, though I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling a little better about his odds of reaching them. He projects as a first-division catcher with upside from there if there’s a little more in his bat than I’m crediting here.

Mayfield was a popup arm in the 2024 draft, surging into the first round and signing for a little over $3.4 million. While one’s attention is immediately drawn to the length of the young southpaw’s neck, in time his touch and feel on the mound start to stand out as well. He’s a graceful mover with a low-maintenance delivery and lofty control and command projections.

Atypically for a high school first-rounder, Mayfield isn’t an especially hard thrower. He’s touched 97 at points in his career but tends to sit in the low 90s. His fastball is effective because even though he’s tall, he gets down the mound well and releases the ball low and on a nearly flat plane. While he’s not precise with his location, he almost religiously avoids the bottom half of the zone with it, and generates plenty of whiffs, chases, and popups on fastballs up. The pitch also sets up his plus change, a nasty fader that slinks to the glove side at the last second. Getting a better feel for his sweeping slider is a developmental goal going forward, as it’s not especially sharp in its current form; the way Mayfield pronates suggests it’ll be a real battle to get this pitch any better than average. Learning how to consistently hit the back door and the back foot will be key.

The 2026 season will be as much about building innings as anything else, as a couple short-term maladies limited the lefty to 60.2 frames across 19 starts last year. He’s averaged four innings per turn thus far and hopefully can get that number on the other side of five by season’s end. He’s off to a fast start — 16 innings, 19 strikeouts, four hits in his first four starts — and a midseason promotion to Double-A looks like a real possibility. While he could peak as a no. 3 if he develops surgical command, underwhelming arm strength and feel put a pretty firm lid on his ultimate ceiling. He’s tracking like a no. 4, and could potentially squeeze his way onto next year’s Top 100 list if all goes well the rest of the way.

For anyone wondering whether scouts are a monolithic bunch, consider the case of Mendez. On back-to-back days this spring, he came up in a conversation with scouts. The first one raved about the Dominican right-hander, arguing that he was already one of the game’s top pitching prospects. The next afternoon, a different scout opined that he looked more like a long reliever than a building block.

This grade splits that rather dramatic difference in opinion. You can certainly see the case for getting aggressive. Mendez is a loose and lean athlete with a whippy and powerful arm. He sits in the mid-to-upper 90s and can hit triple digits. That arm strength sets up his slider, a two-plane bender that flashes plus when he lands it in the lower half of the zone or below. He’s also got a fading change; he doesn’t use it much and the pitch needs reps, but on movement it flashes average. It’s not unusual for guys with this much arm speed to have a bit of recoil, but Mendez’s is huge, and the way his back leg kicks out as he follows through gives his delivery a delightful YOLO energy.

Inconsistency abounds, though. Mendez’s effort level is noticeably higher on his fastballs than his slider or change, and his hand speed on the latter looks particularly slow. While he’s capable of throwing strikes with the slider and change, he doesn’t yet execute them consistently. The slider in particular can spin out and hang up in the zone, and the change needs a lot of reps to reach the aggressive projection above. If the Padres think he can start, it’s worth continuing to develop Mendez that way in the hopes that he can find more release consistency. I tend to think he could be a monster in relief, though, airing out the fastball and potentially running the slider into the low 90s. Thin, high-effort pitchers with elite arm strength generally don’t eat a ton of innings anyway, and he could move very quickly in short stints. While not an exact match, there are a lot of similarities between Mendez and Edwin Díaz 10 years ago, and while the latter’s career is a best-case scenario for a conversion candidate like this, the former has closer upside in relief. Just prior to publication, Mendez hit the IL with an oblique injury; his timeline for return is unclear at this point.

Rodriguez is working in high-leverage spots out of one of the best bullpens in the majors, which makes him feel out of place on a list like this. He entered the season still prospect eligible, though, so let’s give the righty his due.

Rodriguez signed for $370,000 in the 2021 international class, big money for a pitcher in that market. After Tommy John surgery cost him two seasons, he rocketed through San Diego’s system in 2024 and 2025, vaulting from A-ball to the majors in 83.2 innings. Despite the missed time and quick runway, he has a starter’s blend of control and arsenal depth, and a confidence that belies his inexperience. Both fastballs sit 97-99, with complementary movement. They set up his plus changeup, a pitch that fades and falls off the table. He throws it to both righties and lefties, and he’s not afraid to use it in-zone to get back in the count. He also has an above-average cutter/slider in the upper 80s; he doesn’t throw it a ton, but it’s a useful offering with east-west movement, and hitters haven’t done much with it yet. Rodriguez’s control is ahead of his command and likely always will be, as he’s a high-effort thrower with head movement and spinal tilt. He hits the box plenty, though, and looks every bit the part of a late-inning reliever.

Quintana signed with the Brewers for $1.7 million in the 2024 international class. In an unusual deadline swap between contenders, San Diego acquired him last July, along with Nestor Cortes, in exchange for Brandon Lockridge. Now 19, Quintana started the 2026 season at Low-A Lake Elsinore, where he’s shown the tools that made him a coveted amateur prospect, and also a few things that help explain why he’s off to a slow start.

Quintana is an athletic switch-hitter who takes a hard, lofted rip from both sides of the plate. He stays in pretty well and has a classic low-and-lift swing built to drive pitches in the lower half of the zone, but his bat path is long. He’s late on fastballs right now and is mostly beating them into the ground. He seems to track breaking balls just fine, and he can both adjust off the fastball and take pitches off the plate. That gives him an approach to work with if he can find a way to make more contact. He’s still growing, and increased strength will definitely help, but it also looks like he needs to make an adjustment to get his bat to the ball more quickly.

Defensively, Quintana projects to stay at short. His reads off the bat are quick, and he’s generally able to get himself in the right spot to field the ball and make a throw. He has a plus arm that’ll let him cover the six hole, and he’s shown an ability to make plays on the run. His hands have looked more fine than great thus far, and there’s a chance that he grows in a way that shrinks his range to the point that he’d fit better at third. Reasonable people can disagree here, but for now, to me he looks like a 60/40 or better shot to play an arm-aided shortstop.

Ultimately, Quintana is a high-variance prospect with tools on both sides and a path to everyday duty at short. There’s hit risk from the long swing and steep path, and it’s hard to get over your skis while he’s striking out about a quarter of the time and running around a 60% groundball rate. He’s far more talented and projectable than the numbers imply, though, someone to follow throughout the year for signs of maturation at the plate. Were I scouting for a team, he’s one where I’d put a white-knuckled everyday grade on the guy and hope for the best.

In a draft where they didn’t have much financial flexibility, the Padres placed their big bet on the gigantic lefty from Portland, Oregon, signing him for just over $3.6 million. Schoolcraft is a slow-twitch athlete with long levers, and while his delivery looks smooth and under control, he’s having a hard time finding a consistent release point in the early going. Following a rough spring, he’s walked 10 in his first 7.1 innings, and at times looks like he’s aiming the ball.

On stuff, you can see how Schoolcraft was a first-round pick. He’s up to 97 with above-average extension on his fastball, and he flashes two projectable secondaries in the slider and change. He’s slowing his body on the latter two at the moment, and the breaking ball in particular looks too slow in its current form. The shapes of both are promising, and there’s plenty of runway to improve his arm speed and find a better release. Evaluators who have seen him this spring are mixed on the ultimate upside, but everyone’s aligned that Schoolcraft is a long way from his ceiling. There’s mid-rotation upside and a ton of reasons to stay patient as he tries to find his footing. I don’t think the ceiling is any lower than it was when he was drafted, but in a nod to the road ahead, I’ve dropped him a value tier for now.

Su signed for $775,000 last October, and was San Diego’s fourth-largest international expenditure in the 2025 international class. It’s early, but out of the gate it looks like he has a chance to be the best of the group. Su is athletic and has incredible body control. He can pause his delivery multiple times without losing his balance, and he’s able to screw with a hitter’s timing without compromising his ability to throw strikes or execute his pitches.

Su was very slight as an amateur prospect and was sitting in the low 90s when he signed. He’s still lean but looks stronger year over year, particularly in his lower half, and sat 96-97 in a brief appearance at the Padres’ Breakout Game. I’m guessing he won’t live there as a starter, but if nothing else, it’s encouraging to see he can reach back and touch the upper 90s. He has great feel for spin and you can project at least an above-average breaking ball at maturity. His changeup feel is a little rawer, but that too is a pitch we can project on because of Su’s athleticism and clean arm swing. He’s still on the complex and miles away from the big leagues, but in a system where there aren’t a lot of guys you feel comfortable taking shots on, Su has a puncher’s chance to develop into a mid-rotation starter.

Musgrove was a somewhat notable seventh-round pick out of the University of Mobile, an NAIA school in Alabama. A good athlete, he was a two-way guy in college, and was better known for his bat: He had an OPS over 1.100 and was a terror on the bases. The Pads originally planned to develop him as a two-way player but changed course after the righty underwent Tommy John surgery not long after the draft.

It took nearly two years for Musgrove to get out on a professional mound. When he finally did, he looked like a new man. Bulked up, newly cognizant of modern development methods (“I had no idea what a Trackman was until I got into pro ball,” he told Kevin Charity with MadFriars), and fully unleashed on the mound, Musgrove hit a new gear. He’d previously sat in the low 90s and touched 98; now he’s sitting 95-98 and running it into the triple digits, with shape traits that help it play up further.

Understandably, Musgrove’s secondaries are raw. His raw spin rates are well above average, but they haven’t yet translated into a functional breaking ball. He also doesn’t throw a change. All of that sounds like a recipe for the bullpen, especially as a 24-year-old with an arb clock ticking a little louder than most guys with his level of inexperience. But he could be a Dude there, as he has one monster pitch already and all sorts of late-blooming traits that make me bullish he can find a good slider. He’s off to a wild start in the Fort Wayne bullpen, where he’s struck out seven and walked five in 3.1 innings as of list publication.

If you’re familiar with Balzer’s backstory, you can skip to the second paragraph. For most readers, Eric’s intro from last year’s overview is worth reading in full and has been reproduced here: Balzer was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and an American father. He spent his elementary school years in New Jersey before returning to Japan. He began his high school career as a third baseman but moved to the mound when his coach, former NPB reliever Naoya Shimada, thought his arm strength would play there. Shimada was emphatically correct, but Balzer’s conversion was quickly interrupted by multiple injuries. He was scouted and pitched in just one inning of an official game before he blew out and needed Tommy John during the fall of 2022. Even though he had barely pitched in actual high school games, Balzer was well known enough prior to the TJ (he touched 96 mph that summer) that he was already on the radar of scouts, both from NPB and MLB. It only took a $10,000 bonus for the Padres to sign Balzer, who rehabbed for much of 2024 before debuting in the ACL late in the season.

The way scouts feel about Balzer differs depending on when they saw him. Last year, he had days when he’d live in the mid-90s and touch 99 with plus sink and a sharp slider. On other occasions, sometimes within the same week, he’d sit 92-94 with scattered and/or hittable secondaries. Volatility is not unusual in a young pitcher, particularly one with limited experience and surgery in the rearview mirror. Balzer’s inconsistency was a tad disorienting even by those standards, however, all the more so because he’s a graceful athlete with a clean delivery who can nonetheless fall into ruts where he misses the zone pretty badly.

The early returns in 2026 are a bit better. Balzer has matured physically, which should help him reach the top of his velo band more consistently throughout the year, and he’s throwing his best fastballs with the easy operation of a big leaguer. His secondaries remain a work in progress. His best sweeping curves have bat missing depth, but he’s still prone to more than the occasional hanger. With his arm strength, it’s perhaps worth trying a power breaking ball at some point. The split flashes but still lags behind the other two in usage and consistency.

Balzer’s athleticism and arm strength suggest he’s a big leaguer in some form. While big scatter with an easy delivery is normally a red flag for me, in Balzer’s specific case, his relatively recent conversion and injury history suggest more runway is required before we worry too much about it. He’s a young 21 in terms of his baseball experience, so even with a crude present mix, there’s still a shot he can turn into a starter and it’s worth developing him that way. More likely, a switch to shorter stints allows him to regularly work with his best stuff in a relief role, where he has late-inning upside.

After failing to land Roki Sasaki in 2025, the Padres turned their attention to a couple of shortstops, including De La Cruz, who signed for $1 million. He’s a slight-framed switch-hitter with an extremely selective approach and a tick more pop from the right side. He graduated from the DSL after posting a .259/.477/.360 line and is playing games in extended spring training. In the long run, he’ll need to get significantly stronger, as his bat isn’t quick right now and he needs a long path to get to what limited power he is generating. Defensively, he’s a good gloveman at short with above-average wheels, good hands, and clean actions, and he should have enough arm for the left side. It’s the profile of a utility infielder, with everyday ceiling if I’m shorting him on his physical projection.

Harvey was an overslot fifth-rounder in last year’s draft and signed for $1.5 million, the second-highest bonus San Diego doled out. He’s a strapping lad with the frame and strength to withstand the rigors of catching. It’s a strength-over-bat speed swing, long but powerful, and he has a chance to develop plus pop. Defensively, Harvey is raw in all facets, and he’ll need to put in the work to develop as a receiver and ball blocker. He has arm strength, and the chance to speed up his transfer and increase his throwing accuracy with reps. It’s the profile of a power-over-hit catcher, and while there’s a long way to go here, it’s encouraging that he held his own in a week’s worth of action in Low-A before hitting the IL. He projects as a backup catcher with a path to an everyday role if he exceeds one of the hit or defensive grades above.

Salina was San Diego’s fourth-rounder last year. Amidst a velocity breakout last spring, he had a chance to go even higher than that, but he blew out in his fourth start of the season. Salina is more of a powerful athlete than a graceful one. His delivery is under control, but it’s pretty high effort. On video, his secondary mix is shallow and looked generic enough last spring that it seems like it’ll be hard for him to turn lineups over multiple times. Perhaps pro instruction can coax a better changeup out of him, but the clearest path to value seems to be in relief. There he stands a chance of moving quickly, pairing a fastball that touches 99 with a north-south slider that flashes plus and could reliably play above average. For those inclined to optimism, he’s reportedly back and throwing well this spring, and has backers in the organization who see a path to starting.

Wideman was a third-rounder and San Diego’s second selection in the 2025 draft. He’s a speedy center field prospect with good wheels and instincts in the outfield. While his athleticism and size suggests power potential, Wideman’s swing is pretty conservative. For a tall guy, he’s short to the ball and he’s making contact, but he’s more of a line drive hitter than a power threat. One encouraging note from the early part of the season: After getting wrecked on spin in his cameo at Low-A last summer, both visually and statistically, he’s handled breaking balls just fine in the early going of 2026. It heightens my conviction in his projection, which is that of a lower-variance fourth outfielder.

Kemp was an overslot eighth-rounder in the 2023 draft. Shoulder surgery cost him all of the 2024 campaign, and the right-hander battled through an uneven 2025 when he returned to the mound. He was throwing harder, with a better and tighter breaking ball than he had in high school, but he was understandably rusty, walk prone at times and too hittable at others. Still, the stuff was promising. Kemp sat 93-96 and touched 98 last year while flashing a plus slider. For a strong kid with a good delivery and the kind of short arm action that often portends changeup development, it was a positive season. He looked good again this spring and touched 99 at the team’s Breakout Game.

Unfortunately, Kemp is hurt again. He’s on the 60-day IL with an oblique issue and won’t appear again until the summer at the earliest. It throws another wrench into the profile of a guy who needs reps, particularly if he’s going to have a chance to start. With mediocre fastball shape and shaky control, the relief risk was already high. It’s worth continuing to develop him as a starter, but you could understand why San Diego might be motivated to take the bird in the hand and push him quickly as a reliever.

As an amateur, Fountain was seen as a risk-reward cold weather bat, and he signed for an overslot $1.7 million in the 2024 draft. He had Tommy John surgery that fall and didn’t suit up for a regular season game until last May. Intermittent dings limited him to 65 games last year, and just as it seemed like he’d finally shaken the injury bug, he sustained a left shoulder subluxation after making a leaping catch against the fence earlier this month; he’s done for the year.

The injury is a big blow to a player who desperately needs reps. Fountain projects to have plus power — he hit a moonshot to left in the Padres’ Spring Breakout Game — but he’s raw offensively. His overall contact rate is okay, but the way his swing works right now, he’s only able to drive pitches on the inner third. He whiffed against spin more than 35% of the time last year and is vulnerable to elevated fastballs away from him as well. He’s hit .191/.303/.281 in 48 Low-A games to this point, and he’ll be 21 before he has a chance to right the ship. Defensively, the Padres are still searching for a home. Drafted as an infielder, Fountain played a mix of first and third base last year, but played exclusively in right in 2026.

Scouts were mixed on Fountain’s long-term upside even before he hurt his shoulder. While his blend of decent contact skill and raw power was intriguing, some evaluators saw him as stiff and positionless. Regardless, the injury is an awful development for both player and club, and we’ll now have to wait a year before we can meaningfully check back in on one of San Diego’s few high-upside farmhands.

The Padres allocated two of their three highest bonuses in last year’s draft to high school catchers, a notoriously risky demographic. In Madonna’s case, the risk is arguably heightened by his cold-weather background. You can certainly see why San Diego likes him: He’s both big and athletic, with average power already and a connected, low-ball swing built to do damage. He has good bat speed, and it looks like he’s shortened his swing a bit over the offseason. He’s fared better out of the gate in Low-A this year compared to last summer, when he treaded water but predictably struggled with elite velocity and good spin.

Like Harvey, the other high school catcher San Diego drafted last year, Madonna is a work in progress behind the plate, and his receiving and blocking techniques and throwing mechanics need refinement. The Seattle native moves pretty well back there, though, and his athleticism and mobility give him runway to improve behind the dish. On both sides of the ball, this looks like a slow burn. It’s encouraging that he’s taken well to Low-A at an age when many in his draft orbit are still down on the complex. I’m eager to follow his progress, especially defensively, throughout the season.

Bowen is a player of obvious strengths and weaknesses. He’s an above-average to plus runner with average power and a swing to reach it in games, and he has hammered the PCL to the tune of a .277/.333/.604 line thus far in 2026. He’s also very aggressive and struggles with both spin and good heat up in the zone. Though more of an average defender in center than a special one — he has a tendency to bobble bouncing balls and sometimes needs a beat to read line drives — Bowen’s speed is good enough to cover the position. His bat would be stretched in an everyday role, but his ability to cover the middle of the outfield, steal a base, and hit the odd homer here and there gives him a variety of ways to impact a game. It’s a fourth outfielder’s skill set and as you probably inferred from the numbers above, he’s just about big league ready.

Once a relatively big-bonus international signee, Gutierrez has developed into a command and control oriented lefty starter. He has a low-maintenance delivery and clean, short arm action conducive to hitting his spots. He’s performed well in his first handful of upper-level starts dating back to last season, and this year, he’s posted a 3.75 ERA with a 28.3% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate across his first 12 innings in Double-A. While he won’t blow you away with anything, Gutierrez can spot his low-90s fastball up and down, and both his slider and change wiggle enough to evade barrels.

While Gutierrez is tracking like a spot starter or long reliever, there’s also an intriguing bullpen fallback. He started the Spring Breakout Game for San Diego and sat 95-97 in his one inning. With his command, if he can sustain that kind of velo jump — he averaged 91 mph with his fastball last season — he could also be a mid-leverage relief prospect in shorter stints, with a convenient ability to flex in and out of multi-inning outings. The ceiling isn’t huge here, but Gutierrez offers a couple of paths to value.

Hawkins is an over-the-top righty who gets big carry on his mid-90s fastball. It averages over 20 inches of vertical break, and the way he arches his back almost makes it look like the ball is coming from behind his body. It’s a plus pitch despite average velocity, and while this isn’t an arm slot that always generates big swing and miss totals, Hawkins’s unusually high release seems to give hitters fits. He has to pitch off the fastball because his slider is just average, and while he has a change, he leans heavily on the other two pitches. He’s off to a wild start this year but has mostly thrown strikes throughout his career. Assuming this April is an aberration, he’s just about big league ready and could debut at any time this year.

Haynes was San Diego’s last pick in the 2020 draft but he didn’t debut until 2023 after a balky elbow led to Tommy John surgery. Since then, he’s taken the ball just about every week and is back in San Antonio’s rotation to begin 2026.

Haynes’ fastballs have touched 97 but sit in the low-90s, without barrel-missing shape. His slider is his best pitch, a two-plane breaker he’ll need to lean on in shorter stints. Whether from his long arm swing, the way his body seems to slow, or something else, hitters don’t often bite at Haynes’ change and have touched it up a few times early this year. Even though he’s been starting, Haynes isn’t working deep into games and has averaged about four innings per start since reaching Double-A. Neither his stuff nor his command looks sufficient for more than the occasional spot start and he instead projects as a reliever who can offer length.

This one is from Eric’s update on the 2026 international class: Hernandez is a compact, explosive righty-hitting shortstop from Cuba who signed with San Diego for $1.4 million in January. He’s a toolsy, high-variance player with swing-and-miss risk. Hernandez is athletic enough that he might be able to play multiple up-the-middle positions at maturity, including center field, for which he has the wheels.

McCoy was an undrafted free agent who spent his amateur career at a couple of small northeast Division I schools. He has a one-note offensive profile, but it’s a pretty loud note. McCoy’s top exit velocities last year were north of 118 mph, higher than all but a handful of big leaguers. Still, it comes with scary swing-and-miss and visually concerning pitch recognition: It seems that he can identify soft stuff, but he tends to do so in a way that often leaves him off balance and just sticking the bat out to try to make contact. McCoy has played a mix of outfield spots and first base as a pro but isn’t really additive anywhere. It’s all about the bat here, and with impact like this, he has a path to a role as the short side of a platoon and a dangerous bat off the bench.

Mallitz was an undrafted righty reliever who’s managed to play his way onto both this list and the Israeli national team, whom he pitched for in this spring’s WBC. In retrospect, it looks like someone should have selected him back in 2024, as he performed well as an underclassman at Ole Miss before TJ wiped out his 2023 season and cast a pall over his draft campaign.

Mallitz has a little more going for him than most righty relievers throwing 95. He’s got a deeper arsenal for one, headlined by a buckling mid-80s changeup that completely steamrolled High-A hitters last season. He’s also got an average slider and will occasionally toss a slower breaking ball as well. Even with fairly high effort, Mallitz has pounded the strike zone as a pro, and has run a BB/9 comfortably under 3.00 throughout his career. It doesn’t always translate into precise command — he has a high-effort rock-and-fire delivery with a head whack — but this is a guy who generally throws the ball over the plate. He missed the early part of the 2026 season with a minor injury, and his velo has been down a tick in his return; Double-A hitters have given him a rough ride since he’s come back. Every tick counts in this velo band, but assuming this is a minor speed bump, he projects as a mid-leverage reliever with a path to throwing big league innings as early as this year.

King’s father was the Seahawks’ first round pick in 1999 and had a five-year NFL career as a defensive end. The younger Lamar is a contact-oriented catcher who needs to either grow into a little more power or polish up his defensive skills to profile. King has a tendency to get the fat part of the bat on the ball. He’s a .271 career hitter with a manipulable path, and he notched a 37% hard-hit rate last year, which is pretty good. Still, it hasn’t translated to power production or even average raw yet, despite his size. Defensively, he’s slow out of the crouch with a long stroke and not enough arm to compensate for the first two things. It’s worth staying patient — catchers develop slowly and this one has a path to helping on both sides of the ball. King is a potential late-blooming backstop.

Lowe is a drop-and-drive righty working as a starter at High-A. He has four pitches and primarily works with his fastball and slider. He’ll touch 96 but sits lower and without bat-missing shape, which leaves him very reliant on the slide piece. It’s a decent two-plane breaker, though not so sharp that he’s going to be able to lean on it multiple times through the order. He’ll also flash an average change, but the forecast here is for him to lean on an above-average slider in short stints. He projects as an optionable reliever who can offer a little length.