Padres: Non-roster invitees with best chance to make Opening Day roster

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Mackenzie Gore of San Diego Padres. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images) /

We take a look at which of the San Diego Padres non-roster invitees have the best chance to make the Opening Day roster out of Spring Training.

It was announced on Thursday that the San Diego Padres have invited 27 players who are not on the team’s current 40-man roster to Spring Training.

That group of 27 is obviously hilighted by pitching prospects MacKenzie Gore and Luis Patino. But altogether, eight of San Diego’s top 10 prospects were invited.

At the very least we should get a good look at the system’s top prospects against Major League talent in Spring Training.

Here is the list of the 27 non-roster invitees who are not on the 40-man roster.

Top 30 prospects: Gore (LHP), Patino (RHP), Taylor Trammell (OF), Luis Campusano (C), Owen Miller (INF), Hudson Potts (3B), Reggie Lawson (RHP), Pedro Avila (RHP).

Others: Webster Rivas (C), Charlie Valerio (C), Ivan Castillo (INF), Seth Mejias-Brean (INF), Esteban Quiroz (INF), Jason Vosler (INF), Abraham Almonte (OF), Michael Gettys (OF), Lake Bachar (RHP), Kyle Barraclough (RHP), Miguel Diaz (RHP), Jerad Eickhoff (RHP), Chih-Wei Hu (RHP), Chase Johnson (RHP), Evan Miller (RHP), Travis Radke (LHP), Dauris Valdez (RHP), Steven Wilson (RHP), Jimmy Yacabonis (RHP).

In case you want to catch-up on some of these guys, here are some recent articles we’ve written about a few of them.

Hu and Yacabonis – here.

Barraclough – here.

Trammell – here

Gore – here

Patino – here

Campusano – here

Quiroz – here

For any of these players to make the Opening Day roster they’d have to replace someone currently on the Padres 40-man roster, which is already pretty tight.

But let’s look at a few that have a shot at making that happen.

Infielder Esteban Quiroz #8 of Mexico. (Photo by Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images) /

Who breaks through?

Of course, what most of you want to know is whether or not I think Gore or Patino will break camp with the big league club.

I’ve never thought that either of them will be on the Opening Day roster, and I still don’t believe that will happen.

However, if Gore were to put up lights out numbers in Spring Training, I think the Padres wouldn’t hesitate.

But he’d have to be absolutely dominating like Chris Paddack was in 2019 when he posted a 1.76 ERA in 5 starts and 15.1 innings with 24 strikeouts.

Paddack was two years older than Gore, but they both already have about the same number of Minor League innings.

Patino has virtually no shot, in my opinion. But it will be fun to see what he can do.

I’ve been raving about Esteban Quiroz all offseason and I certainly think he has a chance to unseat Ty France or Greg Garcia on the active roster if he puts together a good Spring.

You could probably throw Seth Majias-Brean (who spent time with the Padres last year) and Owen Miller in that same category.

Miller was great in Double-A last year but struggled in the Arizona Fall League. Still, he’s knocking on the door.

The outfield is already very crowded so it’s hard to imagine Abraham Almonte breaking through. But he’s currently crushing it in the Dominican League and has plenty of big league experience.

San Diego just recently brought in Jarad Eickhoff and if he puts together a good Spring I could see him inserting himself in the battle for the fifth spot in the rotation.

He’s more than shown in the past that he has what it takes to be a middle of the rotation pitcher. But he’s most likely just going to add depth.

The most likely candidate to crack the Opening Day roster is Kyle Barraclough.

A big reason why is it’s just easier for a reliever to replace a reliever, and Barraclough has the stuff to be a dominant Major League reliever and has been in the past.

He has a career K/9 of 11.4 in the big leagues and had an ERA of 3 or less in his first three seasons (2015-2017).

Walks have been the primary issue for Barraclough, but there is no questioning his stuff. If he finds his command and has a good Spring I could see him breaking through and making the Opening Day roster.

Taylor Trammell #26 of the Cincinnati Reds. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

Who else to watch

While he has virtually no shot at him making the team out of Spring, the player I may be keeping my eyes on the most is Taylor Trammell.

I’ve let it known before that I don’t view him as an elite prospect as some other Padres fans do. But that doesn’t mean I don’t see the potential.

This Spring, and the 2020 season as a whole, will go a long way in telling us just what the ceiling could be for Trammell.

And it’s not out of the question that he could make his debut sometime this season.

Seeing Campusano behind the plate will be huge as well. After currently being ranked as the fourth best catching prospect in baseball, I want to see if perhaps he is the catcher of the future for the Padres.

I really think the second base position is going to be fun to watch with Jurickson Profar, Jake Cronenworth, Quiroz, and Miller.

We all know what Profar is capable of and we’re hoping he has a bounce-back season before becoming a free agent.

But I’ve also bought into the hype of Cronenworth and can’t wait to see what he can do.

Those four (and really three because Profar is gone after this season) could determine who is the second baseman of the future for the Padres.

Hopefully they all get plenty of at-bats this Spring so we can get a good look at them.

And of course the outfield battle will be fun to watch with six-to-eight guys who are battling for a roster spot.

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Others could be added in the coming month, but which of these non-roster invitees do you think has the best chance of earning a roster spot this Spring? Let us know in the comments below.

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Padres: Which non-roster invitees have best chance to make Opening Day roster

We take a look at which of the San Diego Padres non-roster invitees have the best chance to make the Opening Day roster out of Spring Training.

Who breaks through?

Who else to watch

Schedule