SLAM DIEGO BACK TO BASICS

How the Padres executed a textbook four-year rebuild to become baseball’s most exhilarating team

- KYLE GLASER

The Real Value Of A No. 1 Farm System

Headlined by Fernando Tatis Jr., the Padres entered 2019 with the No. 1 farm system in baseball. In 2020, they had one of the most dynamic, young, talented teams in the major leagues.

While it might appear that the Padres’ prospects developed together as big leaguers to form the core of a playoff team, the reality is quite different.

Following the 2019 season and continuing through the 2020 trade deadline, the Padres dealt more than a dozen players from their farm system, including one-time top 10 prospects Luis Urias, Taylor Trammell and Josh Naylor. They also traded Cal Quantrill, Hudson Potts, Eric Lauer and Xavier Edwards, all of whom had recently been top 50 overall draft picks.

San Diego turned those prospects—and many others—into big leaguers who directly impacted the 2020 team. The most prominent examples were starting pitchers Mike Clevinger and Zach Davies, closer Trevor Rosenthal and regular position players Trent Grisham, Jake Cronenworth, Tommy Pham, Jurickson Profar, Austin Nola and Mitch Moreland.

Last fall, following his club’s third last-place finish in five years, Padres general manager A.J. Preller and his staff gathered in a freezing, sub-level meeting room beneath Petco Park.

The Padres normally hold their end-of-season staff meetings in a spacious auditorium on the upper floors of the ballpark. But this time, for reasons no one can quite remember, the auditorium was unavailable.

Instead, members of the Padres front office, pro scouting department and research and development group put on their winter wear, walked down a ramp to below field level and took their seats in a frigid room with no direct sunlight. There, they plotted the course for the 2020 season.