San Diego Padres are Hoping for a Lot of Best-Case Scenarios

For the San Diego Padres to succeed this season, they will need the proverbial dice to roll their way many times. Not to say this is impossible, but a middle-ground would surely do the trick as well.

The San Diego Padres are stacked with talent. That’s not shocking news to any of us. The only issue with a ton of good young players is that they are just that; good but young.

The level of potential laced throughout this entire franchise is undeniable. Pundits, fans, scouts, opposing general managers, they’ve all ranted and raved about this team’s depth from the top of the food chain down to the cringe-worthily underpaid minor-league ballplayers in the bottom rungs of the organization.

We’ll touch on that hot-button issue over the weekend. But for now, let’s stick to tossing our pennies into the Friars’ wishing-well.

In order for this team to contend, they’re going to need heavily accelerated developments from multiple young players who are all set to be given much larger roles this season.

San Diego Padres have a lot riding on this year and more than W’s

Austin Hedges, Franchy Cordero, Manuel Margot, Carlos Asuaje, Christian Villanueva, Dinelson Lamet, Luis Perdomo, Bryan Mitchell and heck, even Hunter Renfroe, are all due to see a great deal of playing time this season for the Padres.

The average MLB service time between all of those players is 360.5 days, and it was only that high because of the two years-plus for Mitchell and Perdomo.

My point is, this is a young and extremely inexperienced bunch. On the flip side of that coin, though, the talent level on this team is through the roof.

For things to go the Padres’ way this year, and even into the future, they’ll need these players specifically to step up and assume the larger levels of responsibility that they’ve been given.

What will set this Padres team apart?

Personally, I feel that with the veteran presence of guys like Eric Hosmer, Wil Myers, and even Jose Pirela, and Clayton Richards for the young pitching staff, will bear some of that storm when things aren’t going so well and show the young Friars how to persevere.

This could be instrumental in determining whether the San Diego Padres win 70 or 90 games this season. Plus, if these players all have decent years, it would be stepping stones for them to build off of once next season rolls around.

The riddle behind harnessing a raw talent and turning it into an MLB ballplayer is a fickle, unpredictable, and completely inconsistent process that combines skill, ceiling, confidence level, ability/willingness to learn, etc.

Next: Expect a Lot of High Scoring, Close Games

The Padres’ coaching staff, as well as the teachers throughout the organization, appear to be doing quite a few things right. Let’s hope this trend continues. Happy Friday San Diego!