Bryce Harper, former Nationals Outfielder, MVP, and All-Star, could be off to San Diego. He met with the team earlier this week
Although Harper has not agreed to anything, this could be the start of something. The Padres are in the middle of their own rebuilding process as they have 9 or 10 of the top 100 prospects on their farm system. That’s huge! The future looks bright for this young team. They just have to do the little things and evaluate their talent and they can be very successful.
The Padres have 2 top players that are in the top 15 prospects in the MLB. One is shortstop Fernando Tatis, Jr. Tatis is ranked 2nd behind Vladimir Guerrero, Jr among top prospects in the league. The Padres acquired Tatis in a trade with the White Sox in the 2016 season in exchange for James Shields. Tatis has all the ingredients to become an offensive force in the majors, with his bat speed, leveraged swing, and his overall capacity to make adjustments to make adjustments at the plate, a future plus hitter with plus power.
Another top player on the verge in San Diego is a hard throwing left handed pitcher, MacKenzie Gore ranked 13th among all prospects in the league, but 3rd among pitchers. The Padres see lots of potential in this kid. But why shouldn’t they? His numbers in highschool were just astounding. During his junior and senior year, he combined for a 23-1 record and an ERA of 0.13. WOW! No wonder they showed so much interest in him. Once Gore evaluates himself and reaches his full potential he can do great things.
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A tough aspect that the Padres face though is being in a tough division, the N.L West. It’s full of several dominant teams. Of course, you have the Dodgers who have made it to the World Series the last 2 seasons and don’t look like their going away.
Then there’s the Colorado Rockies, who made the playoffs last year as a Wild Card, falling just a game short of winning the division. They could and likely will be back competing for a similar spot next season. The Giants somewhat seem to surprise us every other year. It’s usually only in even years, but still look out they could do it again. Then the Diamondbacks, who made a playoff run of their own a couple seasons ago, making it to the divisional round but falling to the eventual N.L champion Dodgers.
This division might be one of the toughest but also one of the most exciting in baseball, it’s so competitive and should be a battle until the very end.
Signing Bryce Harper could speed the process up. Having a player like him in the clubhouse could make a huge difference in San Diego’s rebuilding process. Everyone has been waiting to see where Harper would land. The wait is almost over as this could be it.
The Padres fit right in with these other teams and should be able to compete very well. It might not happen this season for San Diego but the rebuild process will be worth it. Their players are still very young and need to be evaluated and progressed but in a few years, this team could be pretty good.
