The San Diego Padres international draft class features fewer names than those of many teams, but the Padres have landed the top left-handed arm in this class to go with a couple of other promising arms.
The big name in this draft class is Mexican left-hander Diego Serna, according to Ben Badler of Baseball America. He’s been rated the top lefty in this year’s international class, and he signed with the Padres for a $1 million bonus.
Serna also has experience on the international stage pitching for his native Mexico. He stared int eh 2024 U-15 World Cup in Colombia, where he struck out 12 while allowing just one hit and one run over seven innings.
The Padres love his size—6’3”, 205 pound—and his accomplished pitch arsenal, which gives him the basic look of a starter just waiting to get experience and climb the prospect ladder. Serna’s fastball plays in the low 90s right now, but he’s expected to grow into the mid-90s or better as he gets more experienced and stronger.
Serna also features several offspeed pitches, including a slider that breaks at multiple levels in the low 80s, which gives him a formidable velocity range. He’s considered a very polished arm at this point in his development process, which is important given the Padres’ need for young power arms.
The other two primary arms are right-hander Joel Duarte from Venezuela, and Cuban righty Jordan Perez. Perez also projects as a starter, while Duarte is a shortstop who recently moved to the mound and showed velocity in the high 90s. The Padres love that level of velocity, of course, and projections indicate he could even hit triple-digits going forward.
The primary shortstop prospect is Timothy Mogen of Curacao. He’s a 6’4” 170 pound string bean at the moment, but Mogen is considered a twitchy athlete with plus speed and a strong arm. He’s got good fundamentals as a hitter, and the Padres are projecting that he’ll add some power as he fills out.
Finally, there’s Jhoneiker Leon, a Venezuelan catcher with a strong 6’1” frame and a toolsy resume that includes both raw power and an above average arm. He’ll compete at a position where the Padres do have some depth, but there’s still plenty of room for other prospects to emerge.
The big question with Padres prospects, of course, is whether they'll be traded. GM A.J. Preller hasn't done any big deals so far this offseason, but it could be only a matter of time.