John Manual writes in BA's prospect blog, "Baseball America has learned the Padres have promoted their No. 1 prospect, first baseman/left fielder Kyle Blanks, to the big leagues. A corresponding move regarding the 40-man roster was not yet announced."

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=4969

He was hitting .283/.393/.485 w/ 9 2B, 1 3B, and 12 HR - hitting .424 over last 10 games.

Blanks will be playing LF and possibly DH (assuming Floyd goes on the DL) when the Padres go on the road back to AL teams...

John indicated that he's burnt out - so if you need a John-baseball fix - I'm your pusher!

PadresRunDown: The Padres have a reputation for being college-focused in their draft choices (if you ask me, it’s an over-stated reputation – they drafted Kyler Burke, Drew Cumberland, and Jaff Decker in the supplemental round of each of the last three drafts). What did you think when the Padres took three toolsy high schoolers in the first four rounds?

John Sickels: Well, you’re right, they’ve done this before, though Decker in particular was extremely polished for a high school hitter. My initial thought was that they were adopting a somewhat different approach this year, relying less on college guys with good numbers, though they picked some of those in later rounds. In general I think a “mixed” approach is best, so I think this will pay dividends for them in the long run.

PRD: Donovan Tate has remarkable athleticism – no one refutes that – but some people question his hitting ability. What’s your take on his hitting tools/skills?

JS: Well, hitting mechanics are something that I have never had a very good feel for. I do better with pitching, lol. Tate’s athleticism is outstanding and obvious, but some people who know a lot more about hitting than I do say he has issues with his swing being too pull-oriented, and he perhaps has problems with his strike zone judgment too, though his tools are so good that he could/should be able to overcome this. I doubt the Padres would have drafted him if they felt his hitting flaws were unfixable.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

I started listing players who were in last year’s top 10, some new additions, and some breakout candidates for the list and the conversation and mental review after the discussion led to this post… Thanks Geoff!

(listed alphabetically)

Kyle Blanks

Blanks isn’t setting the world on fire by hitting .266/.383/.473 but he does have 20 XBH (8 2B, 1 3B, and 11 HR) while splitting duty between 1B and learning LF. His proximity to the Majors and his career numbers put him near the top of the Padre prospect rankings.

Drew Cumberland

There may be no player on this list more important to the Padres’ system. Cumberland is every bit the athlete that prognosticators say the system lacks. On top of that he plays SS. The biggest knock on Cumberland is that he hasn’t been able to stay healthy. Even this year he’s missed some time… When he has been healthy, he’s hit well (with the expected lack of power) .304/.378/.392 and going 9-0 in stolen bases attempts. Cumberland lacks the talent to be a top-5 pick, but is almost certainly a top 10 prospect.

James Darnell

Darnell is considered a 5-tool 3B talent. He’s probably too advanced of a hitter to be in Low-A but he’s blocked by fellow discussion listee, Logan Forsythe. Darnell is hitting .294/.453/.497 with 22 of his 55 hits going for extra bases (13 2B, 2 3B, and 7 HR). Lots of minor league experts have Darnell on their watch lists and Baseball America ranked him in the Padres’ top 10 last off-season.

Jaff Decker

Jaff Decker was rated by Baseball America as the #3 Padres prospect going into this season. And so far he’s done nothing to lower expectations. Despite missing time recovering from a concussion Decker is hitting .283/.455/.543 with 9 doubles and 8 home runs on 127 AB so far this season. He’s a near-lock to remain in the top 5.



Click here to read the rest of the article...

Padres have the third pick (as well as the 52nd & 83rd)…

We discussed – a bit – in the first MOD various #3 candidates… Now is your chance to vote.

I’ve eliminated a few people who I think are either redundant (i.e. I can’t see taking Gibson over White, Crow, or Scheppers or taking Purke over Matzek, etc.) and added two players (Grant Green – with whom the Padres are linked, and Jacob Turner, arguably the top prep RHP in the draft).

Lastly, just so you know, I will not use this to make my decision, but it will influence me. I’m wondering what the consensus is among my “scouts” – who you all want to take.

Please vote and comment – tell me why you voted.

MadFriars.com reports that the Padres promoted Mat Latos from Low-A to AA San Antonio and Will Inman to AAA.

"Latos, 21, has gone 3-0 with a 0.36 ERA (1 ER/25.1 IP) in four starts with Low-A Fort Wayne this season. He has allowed just 10 hits and three walks while striking out 27."

"Inman went 4-1 with a 3.05 ERA (18 ER/44.1 IP)..."

The Padres' talent again shows itself to be better than advertised.

Padres MOD

As you know, John’s Mock Draft is 3 rounds. In those three rounds, the Padres, uncharacteristically, only have 3 picks: 3, 52, and 83.

Obviously Stephen Strasburg will go #1 overall to the Washington Nationals. While it’s less obvious, the consensus is that UNC outfielder, Dustin Ackley, will go number 2 to the Seattle Mariners. Personally, I’m hoping Tanner Scheppers or Aaron Crow or someone emerges as a “wow” candidate and slides into that #2 slot and Ackley is available for the Padres at #3.

However, chances are, the Mariners will take Ackley and if that happens there are a lot of apples to compare to oranges, bananas, and grapes… Do you like polished collegiate arms? Alex White or Kyle Gibson might be your guy… Do you like unbridled velocity? Here’s Tanner Scheppers. How about a high-upside high school hurler? Door 3 has righties Zach Wheeler and Shelby Miller and lefties Tyler Matzek and Matt Purke. Do you like 5-tool high school outfielders? Let me introduce you to Donovan Tate. You could make a case for any of those and few others in the top 5… Unfortunately, for virtually every one of those, you can also make a case that they do not belong in the top 10. Let the debate begin!

I blog on the Padres and just did my first Padres' 2009 1st round draft history & intentions.

http://padresrundown.blogspot.com/2009/04/draft-stuff-first-take.html

(Excerpt 1)

When you look at that list you cannot help but be underwhelmed (at least). But to say the Padres have drafted poorly is incomplete analysis at best and potentially even dishonest…

The current Padres drafting/scouting team has only been in place since 2005 (even then, Grady Fuson joined the team and advised on 2005 – he didn’t take over the lead role until the 2006 draft).

(Excerpt 2)

...[T]he Padres have given us some good clues about where they are leaning… Towers recently said that they targeted hitters in the last draft because they knew there was a lack of hitters in the 2009 draft. Towers has also talked about the quality of pitchers in this draft and on the big league club there has been renewed interest pitchers with above-average velocity fastballs. I think we safely assume that interest will correspond to the pitchers they draft as well.

Clink link to get the whole story.

(Excerpt 3)

My current ranking:

1. Grant Green
2. Dustin Ackley (provided he can play CF or 2B – if not, rank him behind White)
3. Tyler Matzek
4. Aaron Crow
5. Alex White (though if his arm action checks out okay I would put him ahead of Matzek)
6. Kyle Gibson
7. Matt Purke