San Diego Padres Prospect List

I’ve been a San Diego Padres fan for almost 30 years and I always paid fairly close attention to the minor league system as well.  Over the past few years I’ve really started to delve into tracking and analyzing their prospects and draft choices. 

To compile the list for batters I looked at things such as defensive position, on base ability, raw power, contact rates, speed, defense and number of professional at bats.  On the pitching side, the indicators were pitching role, stamina, BB rates, K rates, HR rates and professional innings pitched.  For both I used modifiers for age-vs-league and the ever subjective “ceiling” of the prospect.

One thing is fairly certain, there seems like a lot of depth to the Padres farm system.  You may say, "why is Rymer Liriano so low after his breakout season?".  If he puts together another great year he’ll move far up the list.  Without further ado, here’s my top 30:

Rank	Player	Pos
1	Robert Erlin	SP
2	Keyvius Sampson	SP
3	Joe Wieland	SP
4	Jaff Decker	LF
5	Casey Kelly	SP
6	Anthony Rizzo	1B
7	Jedd Gyorko	3B
8	James Darnell	3B
9	Cory Spangenberg	2B
10	Rymer Liriano	RF
11	Austin Hedges	C
12	Joe Ross	SP
13	Jace Peterson	SS
14	Brad Brach	RP
15	Kevin Quackenbush	RP
16	Vincent Belnome	2B
17	Blake Tekotte	CF
18	Juan Oramas	SP
19	Simon Castro	SP
20	Matt Lollis	SP
21	Matt Stites	RP
22	Jose De Paula	SP
23	Miles Mikolas	RP
24	Duanel Jones	3B
25	Jonathan Galvez	2B
26	Rico Noel	CF
27	Yoan Alcantara	RF
28	Edinson Rincon	3B
29	Donavan Tate	CF
30	Matt Andriese	SP

There are several others who “just missed” the list, but could move up the list quickly with solid 2012 seasons.  Among those:  Reymond Fuentes (CF – tools are there but…), Adys Portillo (SP – throws heat but not strikes, probably has one more shot in the rotation before a bullpen move), Luis Domoromo (RF), Michael Kelly (SP), John Barbato (SP), Zach Cates (SP), Pedro Hernandez (SP), Nick Vincent (RP), Jason Hagerty (C), Henry Charles (CF) and the newly cleared Drew Cumberland (2B)

Comments/responses are welcome and encouraged.  Who are your top Padres prospects?