2026 Padres Affiliate Season Recap: Low-A Lake Elsinore Storm

[Steve Drumwright]

The Lake Elsinore Storm had speed to burn—and burn it they did. All the way to a championship.

The Storm compiled the fourth-most steals in minor-league history with 357 during the regular season. It paid off with a first-half title in the California League’s South Division as the Storm went 39-27.

The second half was a much different story, as the Storm went 27-38, including 11 straight losses, and finished last in the division. But a slew of 2026 draft picks were added to the roster in the final few weeks of the season and injected a spark into the team, who knocked off the second-half South winner Ontario Tower Buzzers (Los Angeles Dodgers affiliate) in the Cal League Division Series. Then, the Storm impressively beat the San Jose Giants in the best-of-three Cal League Championship Series despite being no-hit in Game 2. For his work, Brallan Perez was named the Cal League’s Manager of the Year.

The Storm had three standout starters in right-handers Winyer Chourio, Jesus Castro and Tyler Schmitt, with Chourio getting a midseason promotion to High-A Fort Wayne after a 3.31 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 51⅔ innings. Offensively, the Storm had a strong first half with the bats of center fielder Ryan Wideman (.314/.389/.504), first baseman Luke Cantwell (.328/.475/.496) and third baseman Kerrington Cross (.313/.467/.608) leading the way. Wideman stole 43 bases before a midseason promotion and led the minors in that category for much of the season before slowing down in the second half and hitting the injured list. He finished with 65 steals in 109 games and moved up to Padres Mission's No. 2 prospect.

With the change in personnel and reversal of fortunes in the standings, the Storm ended up in the middle of the pack in batting average (fifth of eight teams) and ERA (also fifth).

Power was not a big part of the Storm’s offense until late in the season. They finished last in the Cal League with 96 homers—22 behind the next-worst team—but 28 of those came in the final 31 regular-season games. That was in large part due to the draft picks who joined the Storm. Seventh-round draft pick Joe Tiroly hit seven in 17 games to end the season, which puts him fourth on the team-wide season leaderboard. Other draft picks to make their pro debuts in the final weeks with the Storm were first-rounder Coleman Borthwick (Padres Mission's No. 3 prospect), second-rounder Elliot Lascelles (Padres Mission's No. 11 prospect), fifth-rounder James Guyette, sixth-rounder Nu’u Contrades, eighth-rounder Sean Fitzpatrick, ninth-rounder Benjamin Stubbs, 10th-rounder Augie Lopez, 11th-rounder Chris McHugh, 12th-rounder Rob Evans and 16th-rounder Albert Roblez.

Some pitchers that popped as the season progressed include right-handed starter Lan-Hong Su, who initially had some notable struggles upon his promotion, then struck out eight over three innings in the Cal League clincher. Left-hander Adler Cecil was a strikeout machine, fanning 112 in just 64⅔ innings. His 112 punchouts were fourth-most in the Padres’ system despite pitching less than half of the innings of two of the three pitchers ahead of him and two-thirds of the other.

There was a big injury loss early in the season when Kale Fountain, who was transitioning from a corner infielder to a corner outfield spot, crashed into the fence in foul territory and needed season-ending shoulder surgery.

Lake Elsinore Storm 2026 Stat Leaders

League: California League South Division

First half: 39-27, first place, 3 games ahead, plus-74 run differential

Second half: 27-38, fourth place, 10½ GB, minus-64 run differential

Hitting leaders

(20 games minimum)

Average: Luke Cantwell .328, Ryan Wideman .314, Kerrington Cross .313

Slugging percentage: Cross .608, Justin DeCriscio .544, Wideman .504

OPS: Cross 1.075, Cantwell .971, DeCriscio .907

Runs: Bradley Frye 65, Qrey Lott 60, Conner Westenburg 60

HRs: Cross 11, Quintana 9, Lott 8

RBIs: Jose Verdugo 54, Jorge Quintana 52, Truitt Madonna 45

Pitching leaders

(10 games minimum)

ERA: Nick Falter 3.02, Winyer Chourio 3.31, Jeferson Villbona 3.86

Strikeouts: Tyler Schmitt 106, Jesus Castro 100, Kruz Schoolcraft 82

WHIP: Villabona 1.10, Falter 1.14, Chourio 1.22

Opponent average: Chourio .204, Carson Swilling .206, Jordan Valenzuela .208

Wins: Schmitt 8, Bryan Balzer 6, Javier Chacon 4, Will Koger 4, Brandon Langley 4

Saves: Koger 6, Langley 3, Ethan Long 3

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