San Diego Padres Minor-League Pitchers of the Year: 2026

[Steve Drumwright]

The San Diego Padres do a nice job of finding pitching talent. The problem is they trade it away before the players can develop and help the major-league staff, instead getting a rental for the final two months of the season and losing the prospects dealt away.

There is talent that the Padres have in their system, but most of it is at the lower levels, still at least a couple years away from making an impact. And that doesn’t even include 2026 first-round draft pick Coleman Borthwick, who made his pro debut for the Low-A Lake Elsinore Storm in the playoffs, appearing in two games. There are other draft picks who could be on this list a year from now.

But for 2026, we have a solid selection of pitchers. Determining how to compare relievers and starters is always tough, but that mostly just makes ranking them difficult; all the players that appear here more than earned their spot on this list.

2026 Padres Mission Minor-League Pitchers of the Year

We'll kick things off with a number of honorable mentions before diving into the top five pitching prospects from this season.

Javier Chacon, RHP, Low-A Lake Elsinore, High-A Fort Wayne

Season stats: 6-1, 3.76 ERA, 38 games (all relief), 3 holds, 1 save (2 chances), 67 IP, 51 H, 37 R, 28 ER, 47 BB, 82 K, .213 opponent average 

Braian Salazar, LHP, High-A Fort Wayne

Season stats: 3-4, 4.25 ERA, 38 games (all relief), 5 holds, 1 save (1 chance), 55 IP, 45 H, 26 R, 26 ER, 31 BB, 67 K, .225 opponent average

Bryan Balzer, RHP, Low-A Lake Elsinore, High-A Fort Wayne

Season stats: 7-5, 4.74 ERA, 23 games (21 starts), 98⅔ IP, 89 H, 59 R, 52 ER, 48 BB, 100 K, .241 opponent average

Winyer Chourio, RHP, Low-A Lake Elsinore, High-A Fort Wayne

Season stats: 6-5, 4.56 ERA, 23 games (20 starts), 92⅔ IP, 78 H, 50 R, 47 ER, 57 BB, 122 K, .229 opponent average

Josh Mallitz, RHP, Double-A San Antonio

Season stats: 5-0, 4.09 ERA, 39 games (all relief), 5 holds, 6 saves (8 chances), 61⅔ IP, 50 H, 30 R, 28 ER, 23 BB, 63 K, .224 opponent average

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5. Francis Pena, RHP, Double-A San Antonio

Season stats: 4-3, 3.05 ERA, 42 games (1 start), 3 holds, 3 saves (5 chances), 59 IP, 26 R, 20 ER, 36 BB, 71 K, .230 opponent average

The 25-year-old right-handed reliever has had a terrific season. It began with an invitation to major-league spring training and is concluding in the Arizona Fall League. In between, he was a force out of the Double-A San Antonio Missions' bullpen. An international free agent who signed out of the Dominican Republic when he was 21, Pena had three blow-up outings that would have made his numbers better if you take them out of the equation (though you obviously can't literally do that).

While good all season, Pena was more consistent in the second half. He often went multiple innings, maxing out at three in his lone start of the year. He could still use some work at limiting free passes (13.7% walk rate), but his strikeout rate was a nice 27.1%. Pena pitched 2025 at Triple-A El Paso after just 19 Double-A games in 2024. Depending on how the Padres approach their Triple-A pitching staff in 2027, he could move up to the Chihuahuas to begin next year.

4. Adler Cecil, LHP, Arizona Complex League, Low-A Lake Elsinore

Season stats: 2-3, 4.09 ERA, 19 games (11 starts), 1 hold, 61⅔ IP, 41 H, 37 R, 28 ER, 6 HR, 38 BB, 107 K, .187 opponent average

A 19th-round draft pick in 2023 who had Tommy John surgery and missed all of the 2025 season, Cecil was a breakthrough prospect this season. He started his comeback in the Arizona Complex League, where the lanky left-handed starter (6-foot-4, 160 pounds) put everyone on notice with 70 strikeouts in 41⅓ innings. He moved up to the Low-A Lake Elsinore Storm at the end of July, adding another 37 strikeouts in 20⅓ innings. Adding a playoff appearance to his ledger, he finished with 112 strikeouts, which was fourth-best in the Padres’ system. He did that in 64⅔ innings. Lake Elsinore is just a few miles up the road from where he went to high school at Temecula Valley.

As you can imagine, his strikeout rate was extremely high at 39.5%, though his walk rate of 14% offset that a bit. Cecil’s ERA was much better despite the increased competition with the Storm, going from 4.79 in the ACL to 2.66 in six games at Lake Elsinore. With now having a full healthy season under his belt, all eyes will be on how the southpaw progresses in 2027. Starting at Lake Elsinore would seem to be the prudent path, with the potential for an early promotion to High-A Fort Wayne depending on his performance.

3. Tucker Musgrove, RHP, High-A Fort Wayne, Double-A San Antonio

Season stats: 2-2, 3.41 ERA, 34 games (all relief), 5 holds, 3 saves (7 chances), 34⅓ IP, 25 H, 16 R, 13 ER, 25 BB, 68 K, .200 opponent average

For some reason, the right-handed reliever flies a bit under the radar. The 24-year-old, a seventh-round draft pick in 2023 out of Mobile, an NAIA university, was a two-way star until the draft process revealed that he needed Tommy John surgery. Not only would he be out the rest of 2023, but all of 2024 as well. Even then, the Padres took it easy when he returned to the mound in 2025, having him pitch once a week for the most part, including starts in the second half of the season. There were a couple of setbacks, but nothing that put him out for very long.

In 2026, Padres Mission's No. 12 prospect began with the High-A Fort Wayne TinCaps and was on a reliever’s schedule, which allowed his stuff to pop a bit more. His athleticism as a college center fielder shows through as Musgrove can easily reach triple digits thanks to a terrific spin rate. His strikeout rate was a sparkling 42.8% between Fort Wayne and a midseason promotion to Double-A San Antonio, but he did walk 15.7% of batters this year before his season ended early due to injury. Musgrove is eligible for the Rule 5 draft this offseason and considering his potential, the Padres might add him to the 40-man roster. He doesn’t feel ready for the majors yet with his control issues, but with a potential change as to how MLB teams handle Rule 5 picks coming in the new collective bargaining agreement, another team might take a chance on him.

2. Ian Koenig, Double-A San Antonio, Triple-A El Paso

Season stats: 8-10, 4.19 ERA, 29 games (all starts), 148⅓ IP, 140 H, 82 R, 69 ER, 38 BB, 120 K, .248 opponent average

An undrafted free agent coming out of Cabrillo College in Northern California who signed in 2022, the right-hander is one of the few starters in the upper levels of the Padres’ system who has shown the ability to potentially help out the major-league rotation at some point. The 25-year-old spent most of 2026 at Double-A San Antonio, where he had a 4.60 ERA in 24 starts and 121⅓ innings. He was promoted late in the season to Triple-A El Paso, where he made five starts and put up good numbers (2.33 ERA, 27 innings, .198 opponent average). Overall, he had a 6.1% walk rate and a 19.4% strikeout rate, with those numbers at the Triple-A level a bit better in the smaller sample size (4.9%, 21.6%).

Koenig’s excellent walk rate helped to keep runners off base, which helped his good .248 opponent average look even better. That added up to a 1.200 WHIP, which was best among starters in the Padres’ system and only behind reliever Josh Mallitz (1.184). Koenig led the system in innings pitched with 148⅓ (13⅓ clear of Jagger Haynes), which helped him rack up 120 strikeouts, second-best in the system, just two behind Winyer Chourio. The knock on Koenig was his proclivity for giving up the long ball. He was tagged for 22 this season (1.33 per nine innings), only a modest improvement from the 17 (1.48 per nine) he gave up in 2025. Koenig is eligible for the Rule 5 draft, but it doesn’t feel like a team would take a shot with him at this point. Starting at Triple-A El Paso to begin 2027 seems likely.

1. Jesus Castro, RHP, Low-A Lake Elsinore

Season stats: 6-5, 4.18 ERA, 22 games (20 starts), 90⅓ IP, 87 H, 50 R, 42 ER, 31 BB, 100 K, .249 opponent average

It feels wrong to put anyone else here after the Padres named the 19-year-old right-hander the organization’s Pitcher of the Year. The younger brother of another Padres prospect, Double-A right-hander Manuel Castro, Jesus Castro is carving out his own path. Padres Mission's No. 18 prospect more than doubled his innings from 2025 in the Dominican Summer League to his first year in the U.S., going from 43⅓ to 90⅓ with Low-A Lake Elsinore and there were the usual bumps that came with that. He doesn’t have an overpowering fastball, sitting in the low-90s, but it does have excellent movement that has resulted in a groundball rate above 50%. He also has a changeup that is effective, while his slider has good spin but could stand to find the zone more often.

He was the Storm’s No. 2 pitcher in the first half to Winyer Chourio, then took over the No. 1 slot after Chourio’s midseason promotion to High-A Fort Wayne. His best outing this year came July 28 vs. Stockton, where he went seven shutout innings, allowing just a fourth-inning leadoff single, while striking out seven and walking none. He had a nice 7.9% walk rate and 25.4% strikeout rate in his full season with the Storm. He made two postseason starts as the Storm won the California League championship, including six innings of two-hit ball in Game 1 of the Division Series vs. Ontario. He'll likely open next year at High-A Fort Wayne, with the chance to join the patented Padres fast track if he continues to impress there.

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