Every preseason prospect reveals new information and trends among prospects for each team, and the San Diego Padres are no exception. Baseball America recently published its Top 30 Prospects list for 2026, and the list included some intriguing tidbits covering what we’ve learned about a couple of important players going into this season.
Jorge Quintana, shorstop. The shortstop was acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers at the trade deadline last year. He showed some of the requisite power the Padres were expecting when they acquired him, but there are concerns about his ability to transfer that power to the highest level against spin and breaking balls going forward.
Quintana has done a good job of learning the strike zone, and his chase rate is 25 percent, which is a solid number for a player at his development stage. But he’s having trouble recognizing spin, which is part of the reason his contact skills were considered below average, and he struggled badly against the kind of secondary stuff he’ll see at the next level.
Kyle Fountain, corner infielder. If the Padres are looking for power, Fountain should be their guy, as he’s considered a physical specimen with the most raw power of any minor leaguer currently in the team’s system.
But he, too, is struggling to make contact against breaking balls. Fountain’s debut last year was brief, as he only played in 65 games, and his contact rates against sliders and changeups were just 57 percent and 71 percent, respectively.
Kruz Schoolcraft, starter. As reported here, Schoolcraft is one of the Padres most anticipated prospects. He showed out in the Arizona Fall League, with his fastball touching 99 mph, so the key now is keeping him healthy so he can build up his innings count.
Bradgley Rodriguez, reliever. Rodriguez has been teasing the Padres for a while now as a possible bullpen add, which is part of what trade discussions about relievers Mason Miller and Adrian Morejon have been about. He made a total of seven appearances with the Padres last year and posted a 1.17 ERA, but a count of biceps tightness hindered his late season comeback.
The Padres have been working with him on changing his arm slot angle from over-the-top to a 3/4 delivery, and they believe they have the problem fixed. Rodriguez finished strong at Triple-A El Paso, and if he can show that he’s healthy in spring training he could easily make the roster.
“I have the confidence in myself that it really doesn’t matter who I’m facing,” Rodriguez said to Jeff Sanders of Baseball America last year. I know that I trust my stuff. I know that I have what it takes to be successful. So no disrespect to any batters out there, but I’m confident in my stuff.”