Chris Kemp has gotten used to A.J. Preller impacting his draft pool.
The Padres’ president of baseball operations has cost his amateur scouting director money over the years by signing Xander Bogaerts and Nick Pivetta. Preller has boosted Kemp’s annual checkbook occasionally, too, by slapping qualifying offers onto the backs of Blake Snell, Josh Hader and Dylan Cease on their way out the door.
Cease’s departure in free agency gives the Padres a modest bump — a fourth-round pick and an extra $563,900 — for this year’s draft, which begins Saturday. The Padres have a bonus pool of nearly $9.5 million to spread among their draftees.
The extra pick and money help, yes. But they hardly dictate how Kemp and his crew divide up the map.
“You’re scouting, you’re putting in your evaluations, you’re putting your reports in regardless of what your pool is,” Kemp said. “Once the dust is settled, it’s who do we really want? And then you see how far you can string out the cap space.”
The next exercise in that endeavor arrives this weekend. The first four rounds are Saturday, with the Padres picking in the bottom third of draft of the draft for the fifth time in six years since making the playoffs in 2020.
Such is their lot in life as a contender and that has, in turn, complicated the Padres’ challenge.
Preller has regularly turned prospects into assets for the Padres’ postseason pushes.
The Juan Soto trade cost the Padres CJ Abrams, James Wood and MacKenzie Gore, among others. The trades for Cease, Luis Arraez, Jason Adam, Tanner Scott and Mason Miller in subsequent years have pulled so many prospects out of the Padres’ system that they were ranked No. 30 this week in Baseball America’s midseason farm update.
Ethan Salas is the lone top-100 prospect in a minor-league system that’s short on depth following all that dealing.
It is what it is if you’re a Padres scout scouring the map for talent.
“Nothing changes,” Kemp said. “Whether we’ve made a lot of trades or no trades, we still want to be really aggressive and sign great players and build a good class. We just keep staying consistent in that year after year, I think we’ll be in a good spot.”
The Padres select 21st overall on Saturday.
Mock drafts have the Padres tied to some high school left-handed pitching, probably because they’ve selected a lot of prep southpaws under Preller — including Kash Mayfield and Kruz Schoolcraft in the past two years.
The Padres have not selected a college player with their first pick since Cal Quantrill in 2016.
Believe it or not, that’s just the way the board has worked out, said Kemp, who began overseeing the amateur draft in 2022 in addition to continuing to serve as Preller’s international scouting director.
“I think when you’re picking in the 20s, a lot of the college guys are going early, a lot of them, and it’s just kind of happens,” Kemp said. “Like, ‘Wow, we can get the second-or third-best, maybe, high school guy, or the 15th or 17th best college guy relative to your board. That’s just kind of how it’s shook down, but every year is different.”
And yes, it will help to have a little extra money when the pieces begin to line up on Saturday.
“It opens up the playbook a little bit, you know, a few more options, maybe on the board,” Kemp said, “where years pass when you don’t have as much money, your options can be limited. So definitely excited for this one.”
2026 MLB Draft
When: Saturday: 10 a.m., Rounds 1-4: Sunday: 11:30 a.m., Rounds 5-20
Padres’ first pick: No. 21 overall (Slot recommendation: $4.22 million)
Padres bonus pool: $9.479 million
Mock Central
Baseball America’s pick for Padres:
3B Bo Lowrance (Christ Church Episcopal HS, S.C.)
“Lowrance has an easy, low-maintenance, left-handed swing that comes with natural loft and an uphill path. He has flashed plus raw power and could grow into even more with the ability to homer to all fields. And unlike most long-levered young hitters, Lowrance doesn’t have any obvious contact questions to address.”
MLB.com’s pick for Padres:
LHP Carson Bolemon (Southside Christian HS, S.C.)
“Bolemon’s stuff is beyond reproach, starting with a 91-94 mph fastball that reaches 96, and he can throw it to either side of the plate with carry or downhill plane. He has a pair of plus breaking balls, with evaluators slightly preferring his 78-82 mph downer curveball to his low-80s sweeper. He also does a nice job of killing spin on a mid-80s kick changeup that could become a solid offering with more use.”
The Athletic:
LHP Carson Boleman (Southside Christian HS, S.C.)
“He’s up to 96 with a four-pitch mix, with the velocity a tick lower this spring, and he gets good depth on two breaking pitches from a three-quarters arm slot, with the curveball the better of the two.”