Major League Baseball

MLB 26-and-under power rankings: No. 9 San Diego Padres

Published Mar. 15, 2023 12:46 p.m. ET

FOX Sports' 26-and-under power rankings are a new spin on the classic prospect rankings. Yes, prospects are important, but with all the game-changing young talent already in the bigs, farm systems alone can’t tell the whole story. So we’re diving deep into every single MLB club, ranking them all by the players in an organization entering their age-26 season or younger — from the bigs to the farm. Each weekday through March 24, we’ll count down from last to first.

No. 9 San Diego Padres

26-and-under total score: 20 (out of 30)

The San Diego Padres break our scale. They have retained limited prospect talent after all of their trades in recent seasons, but they have two of the best young hitters this sport has ever seen. For that reason alone, they rank ninth in our rankings of the best assortments of 26-and-under talent.

It’s all about Fernando Tatís Jr. and Juan Soto, the 24-year-old position players who project to annually contend for MVP trophies for a decade or more to come. But both come with questions. Soto is under club control for only two more seasons and might require a half-billion dollars to commit long-term. Tatís is under contract essentially forever, but he is returning from injuries and a PED suspension that will force him to miss the first 20 games of this season.

And, yet, it wouldn’t surprise many if the two proved to be two of the sport’s five or so most valuable players over the next two seasons. That makes up for the fact that C.J. Abrams and Robert Hassell (and others) are Nationals now, and Luis Urías is a Brewer, and Esteury Ruiz is an Athletic, and so many other former Padres prospects are now in other organizations.

There is also more major-league talent beyond Tatís and Soto. Though he has participated in three postseasons and qualified for arbitration, center fielder Trent Grisham, 26, still meets our threshold for young talent. He is a defensive stalwart who has been both notably better and worse than average offensively at times over his career. Catcher Luis Campusano, 24, has not yet established himself in the major leagues, but has consistently hit at Triple-A.

Within the pitching staff, left-handers Adrián Morejón and Ryan Weathers have flirted with success but struggled with injuries and inconsistency. Morejón, newly 24, looks like a reliever now. Weathers, 23, might still be a starter. This year at least, they represent depth, not pitchers the Padres are relying on to traverse the season.

On the farm, the Padres’ top remaining prospect is, without a doubt, shortstop Jackson Merrill. Every rating system grades him as such, and most put him in the sport’s top 25. Merrill, 19, was the Padres’ 2021 first-round pick. He has been hindered by a wrist fracture and a leg injury, but when he has played, he has played well. Merrill is taller than the typical shortstop at 6-3, but believed to be capable of playing the position for the long term. A healthy year could mean he rates as one of baseball’s best prospects by year’s end. The Padres are certainly giving him the chance. Entering Monday’s games, he leads MLB in spring-training innings played.

The system suffers a steep drop after Merrill. Depending on whom you ask, the next-best prospect is outfielder Samuel Zavala, right-hander Dylan Lesko, or, most likely, catcher Ethan Salas. Zavala, 18, is a Venezuela native who made his stateside debut last season. He flashed power and speed over 43 games split between rookie ball and low-A.

Lesko, 19, was last year’s first-rounder, drafted from the same high school that produced current major-leaguers Brandon Marsh, Joey Bart and Sam Clay. He has not yet pitched professionally. Salas is only 16, but the Padres have already thrust him into Cactus League play since signing him for $5.6 million in January. He was considered the No. 1 international prospect in his signing class.

The best of the rest of the position-player prospects is infielder Eguy Rosario, followed by outfielder Joshua Mears and second baseman Nerwilian Cedeno. Rosario, 23, will miss much of this season with a broken ankle suffered over the winter.

Mears, 22, progressed through three levels last season but met his match at his final stop, Double-A, where he struck out in 48% of his 94 plate appearances. Cedeno, who turns 21 this week, is a switch hitter who had an intriguing full-season debut a year ago.

Other pitching prospects include right-handers Victor Lizarraga and Adam Mazur, left-handers Jay Groome and Robby Snelling, and left-handed reliever José Lopez. Lizarraga impressed as an 18-year-old in the California League last season. Neither Snelling, 19, or Mazur, 21, pitched professionally after the Padres selected them in the first and second round of last year’s draft.

Groome, 24, a one-time top prospect in the Red Sox organization, has a chance to crack the opening-day roster as a long reliever. So far, Lopez, 24, has been too wild in the minor leagues to envision him finding success in the majors.

All of these talents pale in comparison to Tatís and Soto. This ranking is nearly based on them alone. Merrill and Salas could prove to be plenty valuable, but it’s unlikely they — or anyone else in this organization — will ever match the 24-year-old duo.

Score breakdown
Big-league position players: 15 (out of 10)
Big-league pitchers: 3 (out of 10)
Prospect position players: 1 (out of 5)
Prospect pitchers: 1 (out of 5)

Pedro Moura is the national baseball writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the Dodgers for The Athletic, the Angels and Dodgers for the Orange County Register and L.A. Times, and his alma mater, USC, for ESPN Los Angeles. He is the author of "How to Beat a Broken Game." Follow him on Twitter at @pedromoura.

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