SAN DIEGO – The San Diego Padres are totally out of rebuilding mode and consider themselves in championship contention mode. That means his focus has shifted from accumulating talent to winning now.
Two days before the MLB Draft, I asked the Padres’ director of amateur scouting, Chris Kemp, if that has any influence on whether they pick a straight high school player with big upsides or a college player who is closer to contribute to the level of the major leagues.
“That’s something that’s talked about in the room, but I think whether it’s high school or college, we’ll pick the best player on the board,” Kemp says.
Picked 15th overall, the best player on his board was Dylan Lesko, a right-handed pitcher from Buford High School in Georgia. It’s hard to argue with that assessment because if he hadn’t been injured, he might have been the first player eliminated overall.
Lesko, who in 2021 was the first high school student to win Gatorade’s national player of the year award, had Tommy John surgery just a couple of months ago. Before he got hurt, he was showing off a high 90 fastball with a major league-ready changeup and a developing curveball, all of which he throws consistently for strikes. Some of Lesko’s Baseball America analysis addresses his composition and it’s terribly encouraging:
“Tremendous setup talent that doesn’t show up often. He has the makings to be a special professional athlete. With continued growth and development, he has the potential to be a top rotation type arm.”
He’s 6’3″ and nearly 200 pounds, so most talent evaluators expect him to make a full recovery from elbow reconstruction.
