San Diego Padres Ramp Up for Upcoming MLB Season After a Strong Run in 2022

Levi Underwood, Staff Reporter|Jan 25, 2023

Photo from Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

The Padres play at Petco Park. The stadium is located in Downtown San Diego and is home to the San Diego Padres.

Tweet by Dylan Lesko (@dylanjlesko) on July 17, 2022.

With the 2022 year MLB season ending, teams have started drafting players for the upcoming season. The San Diego Padres are more excited than ever coming off a great 2022 season and beating the LA Dodgers in the first-round playoffs. 

With 250 million dollars to spend, the Padres have picked up some pretty good players to help them. The Padres are always in need of pitchers, which is why Dylan Lesko was their first pick in round 15. The two agreed to a 3.9 million dollar signing bonus which is the highest bonus for a high school player. 

Chase Winkler, a senior on the Sage Creek Baseball team, is a huge Padres fan who follows them daily. Winkler shares insight on the new deal: 

“100 percent worth it with the crazy numbers he put up in high school. Raw talent for under 4 million is always a good deal.” 

Robby Smelly was another pitcher drafted in the 39th round. The expected slot value for his pick was 2 million which was greatly exceeded when the Padres agreed to 3 million dollars for a signing bonus. 

The varsity head coach of Sage Creek’s boys baseball, Ryan Madison, says that this agreement “seems unusual at first because of the extra 1 million dollars, but actually makes sense because of the options this player has. The Padres have so much money that this deal was good.” 

Padres player Manny Machado leaves the field wit a bat in hand. Machado is third baseman as well as shortstop for the team. (Photo by Ryan Casey Aguinaldo. Photo from Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.)

Next on this list is Henry Williams, who was pick number 91. Henry is another right-handed pitcher who recently underwent Tommy John surgery — where pitchers get a tendon removed from their arm. He had multiple offers but signed with the Padres for $800,000. Lamar King Jr. was the 120th pick, signed with the Padres for a little over half a million dollars as a catcher.

 Lower down on the list is Jackson Smeltz who was picker number 300. Smeltz is another pitcher who had a pick value of 150 thousand dollars, but only signed for 25 thousand dollars. This mysterious transaction is unknown why their deal was so low below estimated value. 

Some smaller Padres transactions in the minor leagues are Leandro Solano, Johan Moren and Yovannnki Pascual, who are all pitchers trying to make their way up to the big leagues.

 With the Padres looking very strong for the 2023 season, Dodgers fans are on the lookout for another playoff battle. 

Allison Stock, a math teacher and LA Dodgers fan at Sage Creek, is looking ahead at what the upcoming season holds for her team.

“The Padres got lucky with their playoff win last year and will be back to normal where the Dodgers dominate the Padres.” 

Looks like Dodgers fans didn’t lose any confidence from last year, but only time will tell.