San Diego has talent.
It's hard to look past Brian Matusz's abilities, but Stephen Strasburg isn't really giving you a choice. That's the pace in which top prospects are developed about 30 miles north of the Mexican-American border.
Before Matusz was the first pitcher taken in this year's draft, and before Strasburg became the poster child for the 2009 edition, there was Nick Noonan last year. Before that there was Adam Jones. Before him came Cole Hamels and Aaron Harang, and before that was Eric Chavez and so on.
No, the San Diego region has never had a problem producing major-league-quality talent.
The Padres, however, haven't had the same luck. Until now.
It wasn't too long ago that the Padres' farm system was headlined by the likes of Josh Barfield and Cesar Carrillo -- and who could forget George Kottaras? But a pair of strong, college-focused drafts have changed things for San Diego's major league franchise.
In 2007, seven of the Padres' first eight picks came out of the college ranks. That's nothing when compared with what they did this year -- San Diego took just one high schooler in its first 17 selections.
Apparently, the Padres haven't been looking for a repeat of 2004 No. 1 overall pick Matt Bush -- who's from Mission Bay High School in San Diego, go figure. Instead, the team has been playing it safe, opting for players who may have a bit lower ceilings but higher odds of reaching those ceilings.
The '07 draft brought San Diego the likes of Kellen Kulbacki and Mitch Canham. Both players have been solid, posting walk rates of 17.5% and 18.1%, respectively, for High-A Lake Elsinore. The two share an identical .372 wOBA, as well. Don't sleep on first-rounder Nick Schmidt, who dazzled at Arkansas, either -- he just hasn't been able to stay healthy yet. The 6-foot-5, 230-pounder had reconstructive elbow surgery in October.
San Diego's '08 edition brought along more of the same. First-rounder Allan Dykstra is the kind of slugging, patient first baseman who everyone should be talking about, he just picked the wrong year to be a junior (see: Smoak, Justin and Alonso, Yonder...and Brett Wallace...heck, and Eric Hosmer, too). Dykstra posted a stellar .323/.519/.645 line at Wake Forest. He struck out too much -- 45 times -- but had 62 walks. Oh, and he's from San Diego, too.
San Diego then picked up three more quality collegiate bats in Logan Forsythe, James Darnell, and Blake Tekotte in subsequent rounds. Forsythe, an Arkansas product -- like Schmidt -- had a .479 OBP and a 46:26 BB:K rate. Darnell slugged .580, and Tekotte was second on his team with a .466 OBP and .593 SLG -- Alonso led Miami in both categories, no surprise.
If you combine those names with the development of Chase Headley, Matt Latos (a JUCO product), Matt Antonelli -- until this year -- and the highway robbery of Will Inman, you see that the Padres are doing a fine job of rebuilding from within.
These aren't the kinds of names that will show up on Top 25 lists just yet, but they are the names of those who can become solid big leaguers in the future -- which the San Diego faithful should be fine with that, seeing as the Padres have one of the worst records in baseball. Stephen Strasburg, anyone?
Adam Loberstein doesn't expect to see any George Kottaras-types on Padres' top prospects lists anytime soon. He can be reached at aloberstein@projectprospect.com.