Though the Padres farm system does show signs of improvement, they still have a long way to go. They struck out in landing any prospect on the the Top Ten Prospect by position for MLB.com but did end up with three showings on the Top 100 overall MLB.com prospect list. Manuel Margot, Javier Guerra, and Hunter Renfroe made the list.
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While having three prospects on the list is great news, considering that two of the three were just acquired this off-season it shows both what GM A.J. Preller inherited and what he traded away last season.
Margot was considered the top prospect in the Red Sox system and will start the season in Double A. He hit the list at 45 with former and current teammate Javier Guerra coming in at 58 as a shortstop. Hunter Renfroe just makes it at #92, the only Padre who was drafted on the Padres and remains on the Padres.
While the Padres just signed Alexei Ramirez recently this winter, they see their former first round draft pick Trea Turner at #11 on the list.
Regarding Margot, A.J. had this to say, “”In Margot, you get a two-way player , tons of contact, up the middle, premium defender. That’s something we needed to add to the organization”.
Speaking of shortstops, Guerra hopes to prove in 2016 that he can be ready to take over for Ramirez in 2017 as the starting shortstops in San Diego. Last year at 20 years old he hit 15 home runs and 23 doubles.
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Renfroe has been steadily rising in the system since being drafted in the first round out of Mississippi State and last year after struggling some in AA he excelled after being promoted to AAA. 2016 could be a huge season for Renfroe as well and as left field remains relatively open for the Padres, a good year for Renfroe could get him up to San Diego possibly by the end of the year.