Preller’s Target: Yasmany Tomas, Power Hitter

The Padres are serious about this. On Wednesday, the team held a second private workout with Cuban power hitter Yasmany Tomas, according to a report from Ben Badler of Baseball America. The team held a private workout for the outfielder with sky-high potential last Friday, and appears to have liked what they saw enough to get another look.

General Manager A.J. Preller attended both workouts, in addition to Tomas’ showcase three weeks ago. Preller’s right-hand man Don Welke, VP of Scouting Operations, has also been in attendance. The two private workouts were held at the team’s facility in the Dominican Republic.

The Phillies and Rangers have reportedly also held private workouts for Tomas, but the Padres are the only team reported to have seen him twice.

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Preller’s strength is in international scouting, and Tomas appears to be his first target in improving the Padres’ offense, which was the worst in baseball this year. Tomas has light-tower power and, at 23-years-old, could be a long-term answer to the team’s perennial search for a big stick in the middle of the lineup.

The word on the street is that Tomas is likely to command a contract in the nine-figure range. So if Preller decides that Tomas is the player he wants, we’ll get our first real glimpse of the Padres ownership’s willingness to spend to put a quality team on the field.

I trust Preller’s judgment when it comes to evaluating talent. That’s how he’s made his bread and butter in the game of baseball. So if he decides Tomas is legit, then ownership needs to back him up and shell out the coin to sign him. Otherwise, Padres fans can just go back to hoping Yonder Alonso and Will Venable start hitting. And that’s not a pretty picture.

#InPrellerWeTrust