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New Padres GM Jed Hoyer has to make MLB draft No. 1 priority
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New Padres general manager Jed Hoyer said that he will focus the club's direction
on player development and scouting. (AP/ Lenny Ignelzi)
How many of the Padres draft picks can you name that have made it to the big league club in the last decade or so?
I can count 20 San Diego draftees who have been drafted since 1998 that have received call-ups to the big leagues by the Padres.
Sean Burroughs and Brian Lawrence were drafted in 1998.
Jake Peavy, Mike Bynum and Mike Thompson in 1999.
Xavier Nady and Justin Germano in 2000.
Josh Barfield in 2001.
Khalil Greene, Paul McAnulty and Drew Macias in 2002.
Tim Stauffer in 2003.
Kyle Blanks in 2004.
Chase Headley, Nick Hundley, Josh Geer and Will Venable from 2005.
Wade LeBlanc, Matt Antonelli and Mat Latos from 2006.
All 20 of those guys were scouted by, developed by and made their major league debuts with the Padres.
If there was ever a sign as to why San Diego has failed to compete on a semi-regular basis, it’s that the Padres have failed in the amateur draft.
And if there was one thing that new general manager Jed Hoyer can point to is a necessity to fix before building a competitive ballclub, it’s San Diego’s strategic approach when it comes to the June draft.
The draft has haunted the Padres the last decade and a half primarily because the club hasn’t drafted well (Matt Bush anyone?).
When Khalil Greene was the last No. 1 pick to become a consistent major leaguer, then you know something is wrong.
When your baseball club is a small-market team, then it has to act like one.
All of the Padres’ contenders since Kevin Towers was named the general manager in 1995 were built using a kind of big-market mindset.
Towers built the 1998 National League pennant winners through trades and picking up the equivalent to scrap metal in free agency.
He did the same with the two NL West division winners in 2004 and 2005, taking someone else’s trash and making San Diego’s version of gold.
But with a team that has a payroll that is less than what CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett made just this season alone, piecing a contender using scraps won’t give you a contender for long.
In small markets, you have to build winners through development, like the Florida Marlins, Minnesota Twins and—occasionally—the Oakland Athletics.
“My goal is to field a consistent winner,” Hoyer told the media when he was introduced Monday. “The only way to build that is scouting and player development. There is no magic formula, no special sauce. It comes down to great scouting.”
And don’t forget great drafting. That’s one thing that the Boston Red Sox had. Sure, the Red Sox had a $121 million payroll in 2009, but how many of those guys are home grown?
Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury and Clay Buchholz are just a few in Boston that were drafted, cultivated and now contribute to the Red Sox's success.
“In Boston, Theo Epstein preached be a small-market team with big-market resources,” Hoyer said.
The big-market resources are gone. Hoyer better put that small-market training to use if he’s going to build a contender in San Diego.
All that starts with the draft.
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