San Diego Padres Top 38 Prospects

Among the most high-profile international amateur prospects of the last decade or so, Salas signed for $5.6 million in January of 2023 and weeks later was in Arizona competing with upper-level minor leaguers and the occasional big leaguer during spring training. He was promoted from the extended spring group to Low-A Lake Elsinore just a few days before his 17th birthday, and he thrived there for most of the rest of his debut season.

In 2024, he really struggled with the bat at High-A Fort Wayne, posting a paltry .206/.288/.311 line there. He also struggled badly with ball-blocking for a huge chunk of time in the middle of the season and went through a phase of flinching and aversion to the baseball. Salas had a good, if sometimes haggard-looking, six-week run in the Arizona Fall League, hitting .228/.327/.424 with as many homers (four) as he had all year at Fort Wayne as the circuit’s second-youngest player. He began 2025 as an 18-year-old at Double-A San Antonio (he turned 19 just a few days prior to list publication) and barely got underway before he was shut down with a stress reaction in his back, an injury that will sideline him until the middle of the season.

It’s hard to contextualize Salas’ 2024 statistical performance because there isn’t much precedent for his promotion pace, and the little that does exist is different due to changes to the structure of the minors. Wander Franco and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. debuted in the Appy League, for instance, rather than in full-season ball like Salas, but both also reached High-A during the back half of their age-18 seasons, and both of them really hit. Salas did not, at least not on the surface. His underlying contact data is better than that of a .206 hitter (77% contact rate, 83% in-zone), but it still isn’t awesome. Salas’ bat path creates some issues, as he’s underneath a lot of fastballs away from him and he rolls over softer stuff. He can snatch fastballs up around his hands, but otherwise isn’t a dangerous hitter right now. Salas is still super projectable and is likely to wind up with plus raw power at maturity. If he becomes as good a defender as he’s projected here, he can have a one-note offensive skill set and still be a really good player.

Salas’ receiving is incredibly still and quiet, and he’ll likely be a great pitch framer at maturity, if he isn’t already. His arm is comfortably plus, and the ease and consistency with which he exits his crouch and gets to his release point is unbelievable for anyone, let alone a catcher this age playing several levels above what is typical. The ball-blocking aspect should improve as Salas keeps getting bigger and his body can more comfortably weather the storm of catching, but at the start of 2025, he was still uncomfortable blocking balls in the dirt. He remains projected as a premium all-around defender with rare raw power for his position, but the hit tool aspect of Salas’ profile is tracking below what was considered possible when he first debuted. It’s looking less likely that Salas will be “Kyle Tucker, but a Gold Glove catcher.” Instead, his swing is reminiscent of Jason Heyward‘s, and he might have a similar trajectory, where he’s merely very good rather than a franchise-altering talent.

De Vries was unanimously viewed as the best prospect in the 2024 international signing class, a potential do-everything, switch-hitting infielder with power from both sides of the plate. He signed for just over $4 million, which is about what you’d expect from a top-of-the-market player. Same as they have with their recent high-profile prospects, the Padres wasted no time in pushing De Vries’ promotion pace. Most prospects who sign in a given year spend all of the rest of it in the D.R. getting their feet wet in pro ball. De Vries, however, was on the Peoria complex in Arizona just weeks after he signed, and after a little bit of extended spring training action, he was sent out to Low-A Lake Elsinore when he was roughly 17 1/2 years old. He slashed .237/.361/.441 at Elsinore, good for a 116 wRC+, before wrapping up his season in the Arizona Fall League, where he was the league’s youngest player. He broke 2025 camp with High-A Fort Wayne and is having a very similar season in most all relevant statistical categories.

On defense, De Vries’ best attribute is his max-effort arm strength, which is comfortably plus. He also has mature poise and a well-calibrated internal clock; he’s rarely rushed or out of control. He is otherwise only a fair defender, one who plays with a fairly high center of gravity, below-average range, and unpolished arm accuracy on throws that require touch rather than effort.

De Vries has actualized power from both sides of the dish. His lefty swing has big loft that ensures a ton of his contact goes airborne, and De Vries has impressive strength in his hands for a high school-aged hitter. While the gear of his swing path definitely forces him to make some swing-and-miss concessions, to this point he has been able to post roughly average contact rates in his two pro seasons. And De Vries can bang from both sides of the plate. He hit exclusively left-handed for a stretch in late May of last year and then returned to switch-hitting, and most of his homers came from the right side. As a righty, De Vries is usually on time to pull, but he’s definitely a less skilled and discerning hitter from over there.

While precocious and talented to a meaningful degree, De Vries doesn’t have the exceptional pure bat speed of a Jesús Made or the overt elite raw power projection of a Samuel Basallo or a Sebastian Walcott, and he remains a 50 FV player on this update. He’s still a top 40 prospect across all of baseball, but is viewed here as more likely to be a steady regular at a key position than a monster. He’s going to get to power and be a good offensive player for a middle infielder, enough to be a young build-around guy, but probably not a superstar unless I’m underrating how much strength De Vries is going to be able to add at his size. If you were to tell me that De Vries, who is already pretty physical, is going to keep getting bigger and stronger to the point that he’s built like Ketel Marte, then this would be an underestimation of his raw power. Such size would almost certainly dictate a move off of shortstop, of course, but I’d trade that for 70-grade power.

Berget is a good changeup away from being in the 50 FV tier. He and the Padres have made successful changes to his delivery and pitch mix that have his fastball playing better in 2025 than ever before. Berget’s arm slot has been raised and he’s added a tick of velo, now sitting 94 with more pure vertical movement because of his new release point. He’s generating comfortably plus chase and miss on his fastball at Triple-A so far in 2025. The tweaks to his delivery haven’t impacted his command, as Bergert has a single digit walk rate so far this year and is dotting his trademark slider on the corner of the zone with the same consistency as he has in prior seasons.

Bergert has added a second breaking ball, a slower, low-80s sweeper that functions like a strike-stealing curveball against lefties and occasionally gives righties a chase breaking ball with a different shape to worry about. His changeup usage, especially against lefties, is way down compared to last year, as Bergert instead backdoors his sweeper to get ahead and then elevates his fastball as a finisher. It works, and Bergert’s delivery and command are comfortably of starter quality. The 2025 season is Bergert’s first on the 40-man. He has debuted and should graduate into a no. 4/5 starter role this year.

Cruz, who hails from Monterrey, is another in the long line of Mexican pitching prospects (often from the Diablos Rojos club) who end up being Padres. San Diego had to trade for pool space (they spent most of their 2024 pool on Leo De Vries) in order to ink Cruz to a $750,000 deal. So advanced was Cruz as a strike-thrower that the Padres skipped him over the DSL and assigned him to the ACL roster for the 2024 season, but he did most of his pitching during fall instructs, where his innings and pitch count could be manicured.

A 2025 lat injury had Cruz start the season on a bit of a delay, and as of list publication, he’s still slowly building his per-game innings count and hasn’t pitched more than two innings in any outing. When he has pitched, he’s looked quite good, and there are rival executives who think Cruz has the talent of a Top 100 prospect right now (he was a “two-year dart” Pick to Click for me this February). In his last outing prior to list publication, he sat 93-95 with high spin, lots of rise/run action, and feel locating that pitch in the upper half of the zone. His bullet-style slider was in the 79-82 mph range and looks average right now, with projection above that. It will probably take more velocity for that pitch to be truly plus at peak. Cruz’s changeup (he threw two in his last outing) is raw, which is understandable because he hasn’t pitched very much. His delivery is a little more effortful and violent than is ideal, but Cruz’s athleticism and command are of starter quality. Even though he’s been in pro ball for about a year and a half, Cruz is incredibly young for a prospect with domestic pro experience and he has all kinds of skill and physical projection. Were he a high schooler in the draft, he’d be in the late first round mix and good for a $2.5 million bonus or so, which helps illustrate how well the Padres did here for $750,000. Still in the nascent stages of development, Cruz has long-term mid-rotation upside.

Mayfield was a pop-up southpaw from Oklahoma who enjoyed a six-tick velo bump across the year or so leading up to his high school senior spring, and he sat in the mid-90s throughout his best draft year outings. His velo has sagged a bit in the early going of 2025, as he’s more consistently been in the 90-93 mph range, and Mayfield left his start last week after just one inning with shoulder discomfort, which he has a history of.

Mayfield has a longer arm action and an odd-looking wrist wrap when he’s fully disconnected, and it’s plausible hitters can see his grip behind him at this juncture. The cross-bodied nature of his delivery combined with his three-quarters arm action creates an odd angle on his fastball, and it aids the effectiveness of Mayfield’s 78-82 mph slider against opposing lefties. Mayfield’s best pitch, though, is his low-80s changeup, which has big fading action; he hides it by mimicking his fastball’s arm speed. If Mayfield can develop plus command, then he’ll be a mid-rotation piece on the back of his changeup quality and his ability to execute his other stuff. The way his velocity trends over the next two years or so is a key variable, as his inability to spin the ball well means his best chance of having two plus pitches will come via the changeup and a good fastball.

Coronil has a projection-driven profile at shortstop, and was an “arrow up” prospect between the time he committed to sign with the Padres and the time he actually put pen to paper, as he showed burgeoning strength and power as signing day approached. There were rumors that an unknown team offered him $1.7 million to break ties with the Padres before Roki Sasaki came to terms with the Dodgers, but Coronil signed for $900,000.

A graceful, low-to-the-ground defender, Coronil makes effortless throws to first base on routine plays and has a good shot to stay at shortstop. His offensive output will depend on how much stronger he can get. He had a slash-and-dash look for most of the commitment window, before greater physicality arrived throughout 2024. There’s hit tool risk and overall variance here, but Coronil otherwise checks a lot of exciting boxes and has impact upside.

Morgan is officially the first player from Hope International to ever be summoned to The Show, as he debuted a few days prior to list publication. Not only that, he’s the first player from the NAIA school to play in any of the four major men’s North American sports leagues. Morgan was a two-way player at Hope in his lone season there and had as many homers as he did appearances as a pitcher (eight). Morgan was mostly scouted during summer ball before the 2022 Draft, when he played in the West Coast League for the Portland Pickles.

The Padres have helped Morgan flesh out his repertoire (he was more or less a fastball-only guy as a Pickle), and it turns out both of his breaking pitches are really good. He has a comfortably plus low-80s curveball with big depth, and a harder, upper-80s slider with impressive movement for how hard it is. He’s also added three ticks of fastball velo since turning pro, and nearly two ticks compared to 2024. Morgan still needs to improve his feel for slider location; too many of them back up and finish near the middle of the zone. If he can do that, he has the stuff to pitch in higher-leverage situations.

The bespectacled Rodriguez didn’t pitch in affiliated ball in 2022 or 2023 because of a balky elbow, but he was seen during backfield activity in Arizona pumping upper-90s gas and working with a plus changeup. Rodriguez then pitched across three levels in 2024 and ended the year with Double-A San Antonio. He was dominant there during the first two months of 2025 and was promoted straight over Triple-A to the big leagues at the very end of May.

Rodriguez has one of the more violent, max-effort deliveries in baseball. His arm and torso rotate through release in the blink of an eye, and there’s a ton of movement around his head. It is not an easy delivery to maintain and repeat, and Rodriguez isn’t the most athletic guy. It is very likely that his lack of control will limit his role to a degree; this isn’t someone who you can trust to throw strikes in high-leverage situations, certainly not right now. Shoddy control also forces Rodriguez’s fastball to play down despite elite peak velocity, though some of that is countered by how disorienting hitters seem to find his delivery. His changeup, which is definitely aided by his mechanical violence, has amazing tailing action at its best and draws some awful-looking swings, while his slider is effectively a cutter; its movement is too short and inconsistent to really call it a slider. If Rodriguez can hone his command over time, then he could be a setup man. His stuff is too good to bucket him with the generic middle relievers, but he’s still pretty raw as a craftsman and will probably get low-leverage work until he proves to be reliable.

An undrafted free agent from St. Charles Community College in Missouri, Nett immediately became a notable prospect because of his arm strength and build. A prototypical 6-foot-3 with a whammy of an arm action, Nett pitched with mid-to-upper-90s velocity throughout his first two pro seasons, and he’s slowly becoming a viable strike-thrower. He walked 20.1% of opponents in his first full season, then 14% in 2024, and is now hovering around 12% at Double-A San Antonio. This trajectory has put Nett in play for a 40-man roster addition after the season.

When Nett has been healthy (he had a shoulder injury in 2023, and an elbow in 2024), he has worked in the 95-98 mph range and bumped 100. Buttressing his heater are three different breaking balls, all with plus spin but roughly average overall quality. A low-90s cutter is the best of these, and the one Nett uses most frequently. His curveball has some arm-side tilt when it’s located well, giving him enough of a weapon against lefties to have a shot to start. His control probably needs to level up one more grade for that, but at the very least, Nett looks like he’s going to be a multi-inning relief weapon.

Mendez is a quick-armed little righty who is currently starting at Fort Wayne, but whose future realistically rests in the bullpen. Mendez is wiry thin — his calves and ankles look like they’re made from balsa wood dowels. He’s touched 100 this year, but it requires a good bit of effort for him to do so, and until a limited 2025 sample, he’s never been able to throw starter-quality strikes. It makes sense to see if a guy in his early 20s who is touching 100 as a starter can sustain something approaching that velo while improving his command, but with Mendez in his 40-man platform year, there might come a time late this season when the Padres decide to ‘pen him to see how he looks in relief and get a better idea of whether he should be rostered this offseason or exposed to the Rule 5 Draft. A team could conceivably pop this guy, not just because of his arm strength but because of his slider quality. His slide piece has late vertical movement and big finish, enough that it gives Mendez a backfoot weapon against lefties. A below-average changeup adds to the relief projection here, but especially if he can sustain plus-plus velo in short bursts, Mendez has a shot to work in a late-inning role.

Ornelas’ swing has undergone several changes in an effort to help him get to his power in games. His surface stats at El Paso are impressive — he has posted an OPS comfortably over .800 each of the last three years and set a personal record for dingers in 2024 with 23 — but his minor league Statcast data suggests that’s something of a PCL mirage. He has a .344 xSLG in 2025 as of list publication. This is a low-launch hitter with roughly average raw power, a tough profile for a below-average corner defender. Ornelas, who has a seven-game debut in April, projects in a part-time outfield role similar to Billy McKinney’s.

A $400,000 signee (Wake Forest commit) from 2022, Lowe is a stocky 22-year-old righty with a catcherly build and a low-90s fastball. It looked like Lowe’s arm slot changed last year; he was once more vertical and tended to pronate over top of the baseball, but his slot is a little lower now and Lowe is supinating on release to generate rise-and-run shape. Though his walk rates have backed up since he’s been promoted to High-A, he still has a visually impressive feel for location, enough to continue to project Lowe as a backend starter. Nothing Lowe works with is plus, but his ability to spot his slider and changeup to opposite sides of the plate gives him the tools to navigate a lineup a couple of times. Lowe lacks physical projection and likely won’t throw much harder at peak. He’s a relatively low-variance prospect for his age, he’s worked over 100 innings in a single season already, and he’s on a two-year track to a 40-man roster spot.

Bateman is built like the drawbridge of a medieval Transylvanian castle at a hulking 6-foot-8, and was signed away from an LSU commitment with a $2.5 million bonus. His build is more sturdy and durable-looking than it is projectable — think Sean Manaea — but Bateman’s velocity is up this year and he’s pretty consistently been in the 93-97 mph range so far in 2025. Bateman has a standard three-quarters delivery with a typical, easy-to-time arm stroke that imparts tailing movement on his fastball. It’s not an especially nasty heater even though Bateman throws pretty hard for a pitcher his age. He’s athletic for his size but average overall, and his secondary stuff (an 89 mph changeup and a 85 mph slider) is only fair, both in terms of its raw nastiness and Bateman’s execution of it. He has an innings-eating starter’s frame and mechanical consistency, but Bateman’s ceiling feels relatively low because there are elements capping the projection of his stuff.

Balzer was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and an American father, then spent his elementary school years in New Jersey due to his father’s work before returning to Japan. He began his high school career as a third baseman but was moved to the mound when his coach, former NPB reliever Naoya Shimada, thought his arm strength would play there. Shimada was emphatically correct and a conversion began, but it was quickly interrupted by multiple injuries. Balzer 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. He was touching 99 during his early spring training outings in 2025 and broke camp with Low-A Lake Elsinore, where he’s been working four to five innings as both a starter and reliever.

Balzer is going to be a slow burn, as you might expect from someone who barely pitched in high school for multiple reasons and then was suddenly a pro ball player. He’ll sit 92-97 throughout the duration of his starts and bump 99, usually with sink and tail. His two-planed sweeper has plus potential and visually pleasing movement when it’s released well, while Balzer’s changeup is a distant third offering in terms of quality. It might be instructive for readers to think of Balzer as if he were a nice junior college sleeper. There’s a long developmental road ahead in terms of stamina and repertoire development, but the arm strength and athleticism to be a big leaguer are clearly here. His fastball/slider foundation gives him a great chance to be a reliever, while his command and changeup are long-term projects.

Viewed as among the higher-floored players in the 2025 international signing class, mostly because of his defensive ability at shortstop, De La Cruz runs and throws well enough to stay there; multiple sources describe him as having a high baseball IQ, good instincts, or something in that vein. De La Cruz has a medium build and below-average bat speed right now, and there are scouts who don’t think he will be strong enough to be an impact offensive player. His hands work well in the box. His left-handed swing is driven by his top hand, while his righty swing is a little longer; both are well-balanced and coordinated. De La Cruz has less overt ceiling than most of San Diego’s top signees, but he’s still a good prospect, with more of a utility look at first blush. He signed for $1 million and is underway in the DSL.

Drafted by Seattle, Moore was a nice semi-under-the-radar pickup for the Reds in the Luis Castillo trade; he was dealt to the Padres this year in exchange for Connor Joe. Moore’s velo climbed throughout his 2021 JUCO season. After he was 91-94 mph early on, he finished in the 93-96 range, and he’s consistently been in the 95-97 range in pro ball — until this year, that is. Moore’s stuff is down a couple of ticks and he’s averaging 94 mph. His slider has also lost a good amount of bite and effectiveness compared to his norm, and his breaking pitches have lost demarcation. Whereas we’re used to seeing Moore with a firm, gyro breaking ball and a slurve that moves more laterally, his breaking balls are all hovering in that gyro area so far this spring. Moore’s athletic, drop-and-drive delivery generates nearly seven feet of extension and helps his stuff play up some, but the effort it takes him to drive down the mound that far hinders his control a little. At peak, his stuff has looked like that of a potential setup man, with the command piece likely rounding down his role a bit. Right now, he looks more like a standard middle reliever.

The 6-foot-8 Reynolds had been a power-hitting, whiff-prone 1B/OF during the early portion of his minor league career (he posted a 57% hard-hit rate but also struck out well over 40% of the time) until the Marlins moved him to the mound in 2021; he had a velo spike in 2023 and was traded to San Diego as part of the Garrett Cooper/Ryan Weathers swap. Reynolds debuted with the Padres in 2024 and pitched well across 11 big league innings. He spent late April of this year in El Paso rehabbing a stress reaction in his right foot before he was brought up again in early May, and he’s been a middle-inning fixture for the last several weeks leading up to list publication, working as many as 2.2 innings in a single outing.

Reynolds will peak in the 99-100 mph range with his fastball, but its downhill plane dilutes its bat-missing impact. He has a firm, upper-80s gyro slider, as well as a slower, low-80s sweeper with more action. The slider is Reynolds’ best pitch, and he uses it heavily early in counts, not just as a finisher. It’s the pitch mix of a pretty standard middle reliever, albeit one whose had a unique journey to get here.

Slender and explosive (if a little uncoordinated), in 2024 Pena allowed just eight earned runs in 47.1 innings at High- and Double-A before he was tested by Triple-A hitters at the end of the season. He’s back in El Paso and, after two years with walk rates in the 6-7% range, he’s struggling with his control. Pena kind of has to nibble because the shape of his fastball tends to find barrels, and even though he’ll bump 100, he’s generating merely average miss and chase. His terse breaking ball is effectively a hard cutter. It often has short, lateral action and lacks the depth of a slider. His command of both pitches has been rather scattered this year, and while his on-paper track record of strike-throwing is very positive, it’s tough to watch Pena pitch and come away with a plus evaluation of his command. For a while last year, it looked like his stuff was going to overwhelm hitters to the point where Pena might work the later innings, but right now, he looks more like a standard middle-inning option.

Cruz was traded to Pittsburgh in the Joe Musgrove deal, stalled out at Double-A Altoona, and was left unprotected in the 2023 minor league Rule 5 draft. The Padres picked him, and Cruz experienced a gigantic leap in performance (he had a sub-3.00 FIP and 32% K%) coming out of the San Antonio bullpen in 2024. His fastball velocity was up, more often in the 93-95 mph range with plus vertical ride. The Padres have re-inserted Cruz into the rotation due to their needs, and his velo is back down in the 91-94 mph range in 2025. His command has also regressed. The walk rate he displayed during the Double-A portion of his 2024 season appears anomalistic when viewed alongside his other recent performances and assignments. Cruz’s changeup, which was always the cornerstone of his repertoire, remains excellent and continues to play like a plus pitch. Realistically, this is a changeup-heavy middle reliever. The Padres need starting depth, so he should be up/down as needed in 2025 (he briefly debuted in April) and then shift back into the bullpen as his options dwindle.

Tears, whose name is pronounced like what comes out of pitchers’ eyes when they miss middle-middle to this guy, is related to former big leaguer Justin Maxwell and NFL linebacker Dont’a Hightower. He was a two-sport star in high school (football was the other) who didn’t see consistent playing time at Tennessee until his redshirt sophomore year. He slashed .320/.418/.620 at Rocky Top and hit 20 homers in 2024, but also struck out at a 25% clip. Here at FanGraphs, his pre-draft grade was relatively bearish due to perceived hit tool risk, and even as Tears hits for power at Lake Elsinore (which arguably has worse pitching than the SEC) those concerns remain. His swing is geared to do damage with big uphill plane, leaving Tears vulnerable to high fastballs. Severe secondary pitch recognition issues magnify his strikeout risk. Tears has big time physicality for a prospect with a smedium frame, as well as above-average bat speed, strength, and all-fields power. He might mash righty pitching enough to be a useful platoon bat even if he strikes out a ton.

His cause would be aided by center field viability, however remote a possibility that might be. Tears isn’t a burner and has very little center field experience, but he did make some ridiculous plays around the wall during the 2024 college postseason. He’s worth a try in center in pro ball to see if he takes to it, but to this point, he has mostly DH’d in 2025. Tears has a corner platoon ceiling with a scary contact profile, though his bat-to-ball skills might improve with reps that he hasn’t had yet. He’s valued here as a relatively low-probability prospect.

Haynes was the Padres’ last pick in the 2020 Draft, the youngest pitcher selected that year, and signed for $300,000 rather than go to North Carolina. Elbow issues that eventually led to a Tommy John kept him from debuting until 2023, and he dealt with more injuries (blister, shoulder) that season. The Padres pushed Haynes’ innings pretty aggressively in 2024, as he worked 110.2 frames at High-A Fort Wayne after he threw just 25.1 of them in 2023.

Haynes’ delivery is fairly violent, and he has historically posted worse-than-average walk rates. Though he’s improved slightly in this regard in 2025, his injury history, mechanical look, and fringy control combine to give him a relief projection. But Haynes has the tools to get hitters of either handedness out and could be a multi-inning option. His arm speed sells his changeup more than that pitch moves, and it often has some cut action. Haynes’ slider feel is pretty good; it has typical two-plane shape and enough finish to play as a backfoot weapon against righties. His fastball, on the other hand, gets slammed by righties, and he should probably pitch backwards against them more often, which will likely be the case if/when Haynes shifts to the bullpen. The fastball projection here assumes such a move. Haynes has a shot to make the Padres’ 40-man this offseason if they think his lack of early-career reps means he has a chance to improve as a strike-thrower.

Even though he’s been passed over in multiple Rule 5 Drafts, Valenzuela continues to have good backup catcher projection here at FanGraphs. He’s a quiet pitch framer who is strong at the catch point, as well as an agile thrower with a quick exchange and plus accuracy, and his ball-blocking has improved. Valenzuela is a strength-over-bat speed type of hitter who has some low-ball pull power from the left side. He’s not often on time to pull pitches in the middle of the zone, but he has the strength to threaten the oppo gap even when he’s late. As a righty batter, Valenzuela is almost exclusively an opposite field hitter because of his tardiness. With two below-average offensive tools, his ceiling is limited. Industry inventory at the catcher position ensures he’ll be relevant for as long as he’s mobile and athletic, which for a player with Valenzuela’s physique will probably be for a while.

Neighbors is a very athletic, tightly wound relief prospect with a plus-plus breaking ball. He struck out 86 and allowed just 22 hits in 48.2 innings as a sophomore at Kansas State, then his performance backed up early in his junior year before Neighbors was really good in the second half. At times he worked three innings per outing out of the Wildcats bullpen, though so far in pro ball (he’s at Fort Wayne), Neighbors has been deployed for an inning at a time. Neighbors is in incredible physical condition, but his super explosive delivery is frequently tough for him to corral; he throws a lot of non-competitive pitches. At peak, his fastball sits 97 with 21 inches of induced vertical break, but he’s more often been 93-95 throughout 2025. His knee-buckling, low-80s curveball has a shape that pairs nicely with the ride of his fastball, and he’ll occasionally show you a mid-80s slider/cutter. Neighbors has a pure middle relief look and should move quickly.

Baez is a strike-throwing 22-year-old righty with the stuff of a depth starter. He threw a ton of strikes at Fort Wayne in 2024 and had a 3-to-1 K-to-BB ratio before he was promoted to San Antonio late in the year, then was added to the 40-man during the offseason. He entered 2025 fairly likely to spend at least most of the year in the minors looking for a third pitch. His best offering is currently a snappy, low-spin 78-83 mph curveball with plus-flashing vertical depth. Though he’ll touch 98, Baez sits 93-94, and his cross-bodied, three-quarters delivery imparts round-down tailing action on his fastball, the shape of which doesn’t jibe well with his curveball. Similarly, his splitter tends to have tail rather than sink. Baez’s build and age could feasibly make you optimistic that he’ll yet throw harder in his mid-20s, but it’s tough to see him having several plus pitches barring some player dev miracle with his splitter.

The Padres have pushed Lizarraga through the minors pretty quickly, and he held his own at Double-A in 2024 even as he altered his approach to pitching with his fastball, which now acts as an above-the-zone weapon. He’s struggling with walks so far in 2025. Lizarraga is only sitting 89-92, which is the biggest reason he’s classified as an up/down swingman prospect here. The other reason is that, aside from Lizarraga’s curveball, he doesn’t have a swing-and-miss weapon. His upper-70s curve has late bite and bat-missing two-plane wipe, and Lizarraga commands it, but his slider and changeup aren’t as nasty. Lizarraga is rather fluid, athletic, and trim, but he probably needs to either throw harder or develop a good split or change to outpace this projection.

Alvarez was one of the Padres’ commits who held a workout for teams during the window when it was unclear who Roki Sasaki would sign with and what the knock-on effects might be. Kansas City (J.J. Picollo was at the showcase), Cleveland and Detroit had a real presence there, but ultimately Alvarez remained with San Diego for $1 million. He’s a projectable lefty with a low-90s fastball and an above-average breaking ball for a pitcher his age. Alvarez has thrown 98 during pull-downs but is more 90-93 off the mound, including in his DSL debut the day before list publication (he struggled, failing to exit the first inning). He has exciting size at a projectable 6-foot-4, and Alvarez will probably be even taller at maturity. His two-planed slider was in the 80-82 mph range during his debut, and Alvarez’s occasional changeups also tend to be in that range. He’s a good developmental pitching prospect who is five-plus years away from the bigs.

Kemp shared some similarities with Chris Paddack when he was drafted out of high school: prototypical size, a good changeup, and a riding vertical fastball. He missed 2024 regular season reps with a right shoulder impingement and didn’t make his pro debut outside of an instructs environment until 2025 in Arizona. In his outing the night before list publication, Kemp sat 92-94 with pure backspin. His slider resides in the 82-85 mph range with a spin averaging about 2,600 rpm, and Kemp can kill spin on his changeup, but many of them finish too high. His arm action is super short and lacks some fluidity, but Kemp repeats it well enough to be developed as a starter. He could be a workhorse at the back of a rotation, which is in step with the $625,000 bonus he got to eschew a commitment to Oklahoma, but Kemp needs to prove he has the stamina for that.

Sanabria played junior college ball a stone’s throw from the Mets complex in Port St. Lucie and blasted through the lower levels of the minors in 2023 and 2024 before he finally met resistance upon his promotion to Double-A San Antonio. Though he still has some warts at the plate, he’s doing much better at Double-A so far in 2025 and projects as an above-replacement hitter despite being limited to first base. Sanabria has a low-ball swing that looked very vulnerable to elevated velocity last year. He seems to have at least partially closed that hole and has been capable of striking the baseball the other way so far this season. Sanabria is a huskier guy, but he has a hit-over-power skill set, with roughly 45-grade raw and a line drive swing. He profiles as a bench bat or luxury injury depth at 1B/DH.

Hightower signed for a little over $850,000 rather than go to North Carolina, and he broke 2025 camp with the Low-A roster. He is an athletic fit at shortstop, with plus range, acrobatic actions, and a quick exchange. He’s undersized but twitchy in the box, and has lovely hitting hands that tend to produce contact back through the middle of the field. Given Hightower’s size, it takes a little longer than you’d expect for his bat to be on plane with the pitch, and he often isn’t impacting the ball out in front of the plate and driving it to his pull side. He’s a developmental utility infield prospect without big power projection due to his lack of size.

Fountain was a Nebraska prep bat committed to LSU who had one of the more projectable high school frames in the 2024 draft class. The Padres announced him as a third baseman, but there’s a good chance he ends up in the outfield because his hands and actions can be a bit clunky on the dirt. There’s above-average arm strength here and more than enough athleticism for Fountain to be a good outfielder if he has to move. He has only DH’d in Arizona. His offensive profile is built around power. Fountain already shows plus raw power to the pull side and quality bat speed, but not so much feel to hit in games. This is a risky corner prospect with a pretty extreme power-over-hit skill set.

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 has been slow to leave the complex. He spent parts of three seasons in Arizona and only reached full-season ball late in 2024. King is physical and has all-fields doubles power right now. His swing can look imbalanced at times, but he moves the barrel around the zone well. On defense, King has the prototypical size of a catcher but doesn’t throw well. He’s allowed stolen bases at a 90% clip as of list publication, at a rate of nearly two steals per game. His throws are fairly accurate, they’re just not on time. This needs to improve to a point of viability for King to continue to catch, and staying back there is imperative to keeping the bar for his offense low. Likely to be a slow burn, King is a developmental catching prospect with a hit-tool driven profile.

Núñez has had a tough time getting past Double-A despite wielding nasty pure stuff. He was brought in on a minor league deal and sent to San Antonio, where, as he often does, he’s posting a strikeout- and walk-laden line. Núñez sits 95-98 and his breaking ball has huge two-plane wipe; his best ones move late and flash nutty length for an 86-88 mph pitch. He once had a plus-flashing changeup as well, but that pitch appears to have been shelved this year. As has been the case for several years, this is late-inning stuff totally undercut by Núñez’s inability to repeat his delivery. He lacks mechanical fluidity and his release is all over the place. Still, despite his persistent issues, his stuff is too good to exclude. All it’s going to take is one team coaxing a modicum of consistency out of Núñez for him to play a meaningful bullpen role for as long as that can continue.

Espada has played for three MLB organizations (Toronto, Boston, San Diego), with multiple stints with the Padres interrupted by a 2024 residency with the Yakult Swallows in NPB. It was there that Espada added a splitter, which is making a difference for him in 2025, as he’s dominating the Texas League. His repertoire still includes an uphill 93 mph fastball and vertical breaking ball, but Espada’s new splitter is the rug that ties the room together, as hitters now have a third velocity band and movement direction to consider. Still, he’s too mechanically inconsistent to project into a regular role; this grade puts Espada on the 40-man fringe.

The latest of San Diego’s seemingly annual undrafted free agent steals, Mallitz was essentially a buy-low redshirt junior who missed 2023 recovering from TJ. He had a better 2022 sophomore campaign coming out of the Ole Miss bullpen than he did in 2024, his draft year, which is part of why he went unselected. Mallitz bumped 98 early in 2025 coming out of the Fort Wayne bullpen and has settled into the 93-95 mph range. His fastball careens downhill, but a deceptive arm action balances some of the effectiveness he loses as a result, and Mallitz’s higher slot creates artificial depth on his breaking ball. His best pitch so far this year has been a power upper-80s changeup, something he rarely used in college. He’s got a shot to work in long relief, which would be a great outcome for a UDFA.

Paplham emerged as one of the better 2022 undrafted free agent signings, a wild, hard-throwing, sinker/sweeper reliever who kissed Double-A in 2023 and pitched in the Arizona Fall League. He has been hit in the face by line drives twice in the last two years and suffered facial fractures each time, with the most recent of these a 103 mph line drive off the bat of Aaron Bracho this February; he also missed time in 2024 with an elbow injury. Paplham made four rehab appearances in the week and a half leading up to list publication, and has looked mostly like his usual self, sitting 95-96 and bending in a plus-flashing sweeper in the 84-86 mph range. His drop-and-drive, somewhat cross-bodied delivery is very explosive and hard for him to maintain, and he scatters his fastball all over the place. He has an up/down reliever projection.

Maracara is the youngest domestic complex-level player across all of baseball and won’t turn 18 until August 19. In last year’s DSL, he posted strong, starter-quality peripherals (27.1% K%, 8.3% BB%) across 45.1 innings. He’s struggling with walks so far in 2025, but he has an athletic (if undersized) build and an aesthetically pleasing delivery, and he hides the ball well. He’ll work in the 89-91 mph range with downhill angle. Maracara threw more curveballs than changeups in 2024 but the latter is his better pitch, flashing above-average tumble and fade. The arc of his curveball, which is often 73-74 mph, is aided by his high release, but that pitch needs more power. He’s a deep projection prospect with a shot to start.

Yet another prospect to transition from the tutelage of Diablos Rojos in Mexico to the Padres, Davila is a young, projectable righty with an athletic drop-and-drive delivery and marginal present stuff. He posted a measly 4.8% walk rate in the 2024 DSL at age 16, and is now on the complex in Peoria building up in long relief. Davila generates six-and-a-half feet of extension despite being an even six feet tall, and both his pedal down the mound and his lack of size creates uphill angle on his elevated fastballs. He only sits in the upper 80s right now, but his combination of projection and athleticism allows for a forecast of greater velocity. For his age, Davila’s repertoire is fairly fleshed out. He has a slider, a cutter, and a changeup, and both breaking balls are occasionally above average. He’s a long-term developmental starter prospect in the nascent stages of his career.

Butterworth spent two years at Western Carolina before transferring to NC State for his junior season. He’s barely playing shortstop at Fort Wayne due to the presence of Leo De Vries, but Butterworth is the best defender on that roster. He’s a fantastic little infield athlete with plus range and beautiful body control. He’s also a plus runner and might be able to play center field, as well as multiple infield positions. Butterworth will probably need to be as versatile as possible to play a big league role because he lacks strength with the bat, so much so that it will impact his ability to make contact at all as he climbs. He projects as a glove/speed-oriented 26th man.