Padres History: Rushing Prospects Up the Minor League Ranks and What It Means for Kruz Schoolcraft

[Joe Naiman]

Currently, the San Diego Padres’ top pitching prospect is Kruz Schoolcraft, who was taken as the team’s first pick in the 2025 draft. It is theoretically possible that Schoolcraft will join others in playing for the Padres the year after he was drafted, although recent trends have limited the quantity of those players in the past 40 years.

The 40-year timeframe is not arbitrary. Some players who reached the Padres the year after being drafted were taken in the January draft and had a full year in the minors before being on the Friars’ roster in their second professional season, but the January draft has not occurred since 1986. A reduction in the number of allowed September call-ups may also work against Schoolcraft making a September roster, and even the 1976 precedent of not calling up outfielder Gene Richards so that the Padres wouldn’t have to utilize an option year creates the possibility that the franchise will save an option year rather than call up Schoolcraft this year.

Three draft picks who played for the Padres either that year or the following year are now in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Dave Winfield was the first of those followed by Ozzie Smith and Tony Gwynn. Only four players since Gwynn have played for the Padres by the end of the season after they were drafted.

The National League granted San Diego and Montreal expansion franchises in May 1968. The teams participated in the June 1968 draft but did not have choices during the first three rounds. The only 1968 Padres draft pick who subsequently played for San Diego, Dave Robinson, made his major league debut in September 1970.

The Padres’ final pick in the June 1968 draft, third baseman Earl Altshuler, opted to play at UCLA instead of signing with the Padres. He was not drafted out of college even though he set the UCLA single-season hits record, and Altshuler did not play professional baseball. However, in 1999 he became the Padres’ batting practice pitcher, creating a three-decade gap between when he was drafted and when he joined the Padres. Randy Elliott, the Padres’ only 1969 draft pick to play for San Diego, joined the team in 1972.

San Diego had the first overall pick of the June 1970 draft and chose catcher Mike Ivie. He joined the Padres in September 1971 but did not subsequently return to the major league team until 1974.

In 1971 the Padres selected third baseman Dave Hilton in the regular phase of the January draft, outfielder Johnny Grubb in the supplemental phase of the January draft, and pitcher Jay Franklin in the first round of the June draft. During the June draft, the team also picked pitcher Dave Friesleben in the fifth round, catcher Joe Goddard in the eighth round, and pitcher Mike Caldwell in the 12th round.

Franklin and Caldwell were both September 1971 call-ups. Franklin pitched three games for the Padres that season and never returned to the majors. Caldwell never played in the minors again, staying with the Padres through the 1973 season before being traded to the Giants for two players including Willie McCovey and remaining in the majors until 1984.

Catcher injuries in 1972 caused the Padres to call up Goddard at the end of July, and he returned to the major league club during the September roster expansion. He had a .200 batting average in 12 games. He did not return to the majors, concluded his Padres organization minor league career in 1976, and became a successful high school coach in West Virginia.

Friesleben was one of the 1972 September callups, but in the era of starters expected to pitch complete games and relief pitchers hurling multiple innings he did not appear in any games with the big league club that year. After a 40-20 record in his first three minor league seasons and a 2-1 record with Hawaii in 1974 Friesleben made his major league debut in April 1974 and stayed with the Padres through the end of 1975. He had 16 Pacific Coast League starts in 1976 and 1977 while spending the rest of the time with San Diego, and he began 1978 with the Padres before being traded that June.

Hilton and Grubb both made their debuts in September 1972. Hilton would play in a total of 161 games with the Padres. Grubb, who batted .308 in Class A in 1971 and .296 in Class AA in 1972, would remain with the Padres until a trade after the 1976 season. His career .286 Padres batting average at the time of the trade was the highest in Padres history at the time. Grubb closed out his major league career with the 1987 Detroit Tigers and appeared in 1,424 major league games including 513 with San Diego.

The Padres have had three players named Dave Roberts. The second of those, an infielder who played collegiate baseball at Oregon, was the first overall pick of the June 1972 draft. Roberts went directly to the Padres, batted .244 in 100 Padres games, split multiple subsequent seasons between the Padres and Hawaii, and batted .240 in 509 Padres games through 1978 before playing for three other teams from 1979 to 1982.

Pitcher Rich Troedson was the Padres’ first pick in the January 1972 supplemental draft. He had an 8-5 record in Class A that year but began 1973 on the major league roster. Troedson pitched 65 games for the Padres in 1973 and 1974 including 19 starts. He had an 8-10 record with a 4.74 earned run average.

In the fifth round of the June 1972 draft the Padres selected pitcher Randy Jones. He was 4-5 in his minor league outings during 1972 although with a 2.71 ERA. After an 8-1 start with a 2.01 ERA in the Class AA portion of his 1973 season Jones was brought up to the Padres that June. He remained with the Padres until being traded after the 1980 season. In 1975 Jones won 20 games and led the National League with a 2.24 ERA. He won the Cy Young Award in 1976 when his 22 wins (not including his victory in the All-Star Game), 25 complete games, and 315 1/3 innings pitched all led the National League. When he was traded his 92 career victories were the Padres’ best total in history.

Winfield was taken in the first round of the June 1973 draft and joined the Padres after signing. He remained with the Padres until becoming a free agent after the 1980 season. He hit 154 home runs in his 1,117 games with San Diego, batted .284 with two seasons above .300, led the National League with 118 runs batted in during 1979 (while also leading the league with 24 intentional walks), won two Gold Glove awards, and was selected to the All-Star Game four times. Winfield concluded his 2,973-game major league career in 1995.

In the 13th round of the June 1973 draft the Padres selected pitcher Joe McIntosh. He was 8-6 with a 2.44 ERA in Class A that year. McIntosh began 1974 on the Padres’ roster but spent most of the season at Hawaii. He was with San Diego for all of 1975 and was traded after that season so that the Padres could acquire Doug Rader. McIntosh was 8-15 with a 3.69 ERA in his 33 starts and 14 relief appearances with the Padres.

The Padres had the first overall pick in the 1974 draft and selected University of Rhode Island shortstop Bill Almon. He played in 39 Class AA and Class AAA games that year before joining the Padres as a September callup. He was also a 1975 and 1976 September callup before becoming the Padres’ regular shortstop in 1977. Smith’s ascension to the majors moved Almon to other infield positions for 1978 and 1979 before a trade sent Almon to the Montreal Expos. Almon played in the majors through 1988, and his 1,236 career games included 429 with the Padres.

Richards was the first overall choice in the January 1975 draft. He spent that year with the Padres’ Class A team in Reno and led the California League with a .381 batting average, 148 runs scored, 191 hits, 85 stolen bases, a .499 on-base percentage (his 116 walks ranked second), and a .551 slugging average (he ranked third with 29 doubles, shared second with ten triples, and homered 12 times). In 1976 Richards led the Pacific Coast League with 173 hits while also batting .331 for Hawaii and scoring 102 times. Although the Padres decided not to waste an option on him by calling him up in late 1976, he was the 1977 Opening Day starter in left field. Richards would would spend seven seasons with the Padres and batted .291 in 939 games with 994 hits including 63 triples, 484 runs scored, and 242 stolen bases.

The September 1976 call-ups included pitcher Bob Owchinko, who was taken in the first round of the June 1976 draft. He was 6-2 in 13 Class AA starts with Amarillo before starting two games for the Padres. Owchinko began 1977 in the Pacific Coast League before a 5-1 record and a 1.43 ERA with Hawaii led to another call-up to San Diego, where he remained until being traded to Cleveland for Jerry Mumphrey in February 1980. Owchinko pitched 526 innings for the Padres and had a 25-39 record with a 4.00 ERA in 83 starts and 27 relief outings.

In the first round of the January 1976 draft the Padres selected pitcher Bob Shirley. He was 14-10 in 29 minor league starts that year. Shirley made the Padres’ 1977 Opening Day roster and was 12-18 with a 3.70 ERA that year. His wins, ERA, 35 starts, 214 innings pitched, and 146 strikeouts all led the team while Owchinko was second with nine wins, a 4.45 ERA, and 170 innings and Owchinko led the team with three complete games while posting the Padres’ only two shutouts that year. Before being sent to the St. Louis Cardinals in an 11-player December 1980 trade Shirley pitched in 197 Padres games, starting 92 of them, and had a 39-57 record with a 3.58 ERA in 722 innings pitched.

In the June 1977 draft the Padres chose outfielder Brian Greer in the first round, infielder Barry Evans in the second round, and Smith in the fourth round. Although Greer batted only .188 in 50 games with Class A Walla Walla that year, he joined the Padres that September. In his only 1977 major league appearance he struck out as a pinch-hitter September 13. Greer returned to the Padres for four September 1979 games, going hitless in three September 4 plate appearances while playing defense only in the other three contests.

Evans batted .358 with Walla Walla in 1977, which ranked third among Northwest League leaders, while leading the circuit with 97 hits. He spent most of 1978 with Amarillo and batted .305 in Class AA. Evans joined the Padres that September and batted .267 in 24 games. Before being sold to the New York Yankees in February 1982 Evans played in 207 games for the Padres, batted .251, and played all four infield positions.

Smith batted .303 for Walla Walla in 1977 while leading the Northwest League with 69 runs and with 30 stolen bases. His 87 league hits trailed only Evans. The performance earned Smith a non-roster invitation to spring training for 1978, and that performance made him the Padres’ Opening Day shortstop that year as well as for his other three seasons with the Padres. Although Smith only batted .258 in 1978 he stole 40 bases and led the National League with 28 sacrifice hits. He was second in the league with 548 assists but would lead the league in assists his other three years with the Padres. In 1980 he set a major league record with 621 assists while also leading the league with 288 putouts and 113 double plays. Before being traded to the Cardinals in December 1981 Smith won two Gold Glove awards and stole 147 bases in his 583 games with the Padres. He spent another 15 seasons with St. Louis.

In the sixth round of the June 1978 draft the Padres picked infielder Tim Flannery. He batted .350 in 84 games with Reno that year. In 1979 Flannery batted .345 for Amarillo while sharing the Texas League lead with 181 hits. That led to a September callup with the Padres. He batted .154 in 22 games, leading to a 1980 start with Hawaii prior to a mid-season callup. He split 1981 between Hawaii and San Diego but returned to the minors again only for a 1988 rehabilitation assignment. When Flannery retired after the 1989 season his 11 seasons with the Padres were a team record.

During 972 regular-season Padres games Flannery batted .255 with 631 hits. He may be best known for another at-bat which didn’t produce a hit. Flannery pinch-hit in the seventh inning of the fifth game of the 1984 National League playoffs and hit the ground ball Leon Durham was unable to handle. The play was ruled an error and Flannery was not credited with a run batted in, but the tying run scored and Flannery subsequently became the go-ahead run in the 6-3 victory which sent the Padres to their first World Series.

In the June 1981 draft the Padres selected outfielder Kevin McReynolds in the first round, pitcher Bill Long in the second round, and Gwynn in the third round. A seven-player trade in December 1984 sent Long to the Chicago White Sox, and he made his debut the following year. McReynolds did not play professionally in 1981, batted .368 with Reno and Amarillo in 1982, and started 1983 with Las Vegas in the Pacific Coast League before a June promotion to the Padres. Gwynn batted .375 with Walla Walla and Amarillo in 1981 and started 1982 with Las Vegas. He first played for the Padres on July 19, 1982, broke Flannery’s team record for seasons played in 1993, and retired after the 2001 season with 3,141 hits, a .338 batting average, eight National League batting championships, and several other distinctions in his 20-year Padres career.

Ivie, Roberts, and Almon were first overall picks, and team improvement kept the Padres from having that dubious distinction until 1988 when the team selected pitcher Andy Benes to start the draft. Benes pitched in the Olympic Games and elsewhere for Team USA rather than in the minors following the 1988 college season. Wichita was the Padres’ Texas League affiliate in 1989, and Benes was 8-4 with a 2.16 ERA there before joining the Las Vegas rotation. After five Pacific Coast League starts he joined the Padres in August 1989 and had a 6-3 record with a 3.51 ERA in ten Padres starts that year. He had double-digit wins the next four seasons. The 1995 trade deadline ended his Padres career although not his 14-year major league career. He was 69-75 with a 3.57 ERA in 186 Padres starts and a relief appearance, and his 1,036 strikeouts stood as the team record until broken by Jake Peavy.

San Diego had the third pick of the 1994 draft and chose pitcher Dustin Hermanson. His 23 relief appearances with Wichita and Las Vegas in 1994 resulted in 11 saves, 36 strikeouts in 28 1/3 innings pitched, and a 1.91 ERA. Hermanson started 1995 with Las Vegas but was called up to the Padres two weeks after the major league season began. He pitched in 26 Padres games and 31 Las Vegas games that year. He also split 1996 between the Padres and Las Vegas. In November 1996 he was traded to the Florida Marlins for infielder Quilvio Veras, and Hermanson pitched in the majors through 2006. He was 4-1 in his 34 games with the Padres.

Roberts, Winfield, and outfielder Xavier Nady are the only players who were drafted by the Padres and went directly to the majors. Nady was taken in the second round of the 2000 draft. After reaching a contract agreement with the Padres that September he was added to the major league roster. In his only 2000 professional game September 30 he had a pinch-hit single and later scored. Nady spent all of 2001 and 2002 in the minors before returning to the Padres during the 2003 season. He was also with the Padres during 2004 and in 2005 before being traded to the New York Mets for Mike Cameron. Eventually Nady returned to the Padres as a free agent in 2014 and closed out his major league career with 22 Padres games that year. His 961 major league games included 291 with San Diego.

Khalil Greene is the most recent Padre to have played for San Diego by the end of the year after he was drafted. The shortstop was the 13th overall pick in the 2002 draft. Greene batted .309 with two Class A teams in 2002. He played in 135 minor league games in 2003 before the major league rosters expanded. Greene played in 20 games with the Padres in 2003. In 2004 he batted .273 with 15 home runs and placed second in the Rookie of the Year balloting. Greene was traded to the Cardinals in December 2008 after playing 659 regular-season games with the Padres. He batted .248 with 84 home runs and 328 runs batted in while wearing a San Diego uniform during the regular season.

No Padres player drafted since 2023 reached the majors prior to the conclusion of the 2025 season. The 2024 season included Padres games for 2022 draft picks Graham Pauley and Adam Mazur.

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