A little love for the rebuilding effort underway near the Mexican Border.
No I am not talking about that ugly concrete fence.
The '07 draft brought San Diego the likes of Kellen Kulbacki and Mitch Canham. Both players have been solid, posting walk rates of 17.5% and 18.1%, respectively, for High-A Lake Elsinore. The two share an identical .372 wOBA, as well. Don't sleep on first-rounder Nick Schmidt, who dazzled at Arkansas, either -- he just hasn't been able to stay healthy yet. The 6-foot-5, 230-pounder had reconstructive elbow surgery in October.
San Diego's '08 edition brought along more of the same. First-rounder Allan Dykstra is the kind of slugging, patient first baseman who everyone should be talking about, he just picked the wrong year to be a junior (see: Smoak, Justin and Alonso, Yonder...and Brett Wallace...heck, and Eric Hosmer, too). Dykstra posted a stellar .323/.519/.645 line at Wake Forest. He struck out too much -- 45 times -- but had 62 walks. Oh, and he's from San Diego, too.
San Diego then picked up three more quality collegiate bats in Logan Forsythe, James Darnell, and Blake Tekotte in subsequent rounds. Forsythe, an Arkansas product -- like Schmidt -- had a .479 OBP and a 46:26 BB:K rate. Darnell slugged .580, and Tekotte was second on his team with a .466 OBP and .593 SLG -- Alonso led Miami in both categories, no surprise.
If you combine those names with the development of Chase Headley, Matt Latos (a JUCO product), Matt Antonelli -- until this year -- and the highway robbery of Will Inman, you see that the Padres are doing a fine job of rebuilding from within
Adam Loberstein - Project Prospect
