Padres Draft Day Two Nets More Pitching

The Padres had 5 picks in the first round Thursday, and grabbed several big arms along with a high school shortstop. Day 2 saw them collect four more picks, this time all of them exclusively pitchers.

Last year the Padres had just one pick in the first 85 picks. This year the 85th pick of the draft was their 6th pick of the draft and they went after their second pitcher coming off of Tommy John surgery in an effort to grab top pitching under the radar and potentially pay them less than their slot.

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High school pitchers are notorious for being risky, but nevertheless their 6th pick was Mason Thompson, a righty out of Round Rock high school. His high school coach John Carter had this to say about Thompson: “It seems like he pitches with very little effort, He’s very mechanical. His mechanics are very sound, and what he really is, is a heck of an athlete.”

After that the Padres drafted LHP Joey Luchessi out of Southeast Missouri State who was a big time strikeout pitcher in college. He led D1 pitching in strikeouts with 149 and went 10-5 with a 2.49 this season leading his team to the NCAA Tournament.

The Padres next pick was the 144th overall in the 5th round. For this pick they took Lake Bachar out of University of Wisconsin – Whitewater. He played football his first two seasons at college as the kicker/punter but played baseball his last two and struck out 149 with just 29 walks.

Next: Padres Day 1 Draft Results

The final pick of the day for the Padres, 174th overall, they went with another college pitcher in Will Stillman out of Wofford. He averaged 14.5K/9IP over his four seasons though struggled some his final two season in college.

The draft concludes tomorrow and though the farther you get in the draft the lower the chances of making it to the big leagues, it is often a place a savvy scout team can find the next Mike Piazza