The Padres extended invitations to 21 non-roster players for 2019 Spring Training.
Yes, the kid everyone wants to see is on the list.
Shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr., the most heralded prospect in San Diego’s stacked system and the #2 prospect in all of baseball (behind Blue Jays 3rd baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr.), will be back with the big league club next month in Peoria, AZ.
The 20-year-old phenom gets his second invite to train with the Major League club. However, unlike last year when he was simply around to get a feel for how things are run, this time Tatis is expected to legitimately make his case for the starting shortstop job.
It would be a longshot for him to break camp and be the Opening Day starter at short but he will get a chance to show the Padres how close he is to earning a big league call-up. He’s expected to arrive at Petco Park sometime during the 2019 season.
Along with Tatis the Padres will have several of their top prospects (according to MLB.com). One interesting note is Josh Naylor, who was in Major League camp a year ago as a 1st baseman, is now an outfielder. Naylor was a Texas League All-Star in 2018 but with Eric Hosmer entrenched at 1st the Padres want to see if Naylor, who can certainly hit (.830 OPS as a 20-year-old at Double-A), can handle a corner OF spot.
The full list of non-roster invitees looks like this:
Right-Handed Pitchers (8)
Cal Quantrill (#11 Padres prospect)
David Bednar
Tyler Higgins
Kazuhisa Makita
Jesse Scholtens
Carlos Torres
T.J. Weir
Eric Yardley
Left-Handed Pitchers (7)
Logan Allen (#8 Padres prospect)
Ryan Bollinger
Dietrich Enns
Jerry Keel
Nick Margevicius
Kyle McGrath
Eric Stout
Catchers (2)
Webster Rivas
Chris Stewart
Infielders (7)
Fernando Tatis Jr. (#1 Padres prospect)
Hudson Potts (#23 Padres prospect)
Allen Craig
Seth Mejias-Brean
Esteban Quiroz
Aderlin Rodriguez
Jason Vosler
Outfielders (5)
Buddy Reed (#13 Padres prospect)
Josh Naylor (#15 Padres prospect)
Alex Dickerson
Boog Powell
Jacob Scavuzzo
