Recent results fuel Padres' 2024 Draft strategy

This story was excerpted from AJ Cassavell’s Padres Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Jackson Merrill was the Padres' first-round Draft choice in 2021. He's an All-Star. Dillon Head was the Padres' first-round Draft choice in '23. He was at the centerpiece in the deal that landed the Padres Luis Arraez -- who is also an All-Star.

That's the backdrop, as San Diego gets another chance to inject talent into its farm system this weekend. The 2024 MLB Draft runs Sunday through Tuesday, and the Padres don't need to look far to understand what kind of impact the Draft can make.

"That's motivation," said Padres scouting director Chris Kemp. "That's why you scout -- guys that you find that are either adding value to the big league team or trade pieces. That motivation's always been high. But to see it every day, see the results ... it's huge."

The Padres will be picking 25th in this year's Draft. They fell 10 spots as a penalty for having exceeded the collective bargaining tax for a third straight season. But their bonus pool -- $9,360,500 to spend on the signing bonuses for their Draft picks -- gets a boost because of the departures of Josh Hader and Blake Snell.

Both Hader and Snell turned down qualifying offers from San Diego last offseason. As a result, the Padres received a pair of compensatory picks in the fourth round. They'll be picking seven times in the first 151 selections.

"It just gives us more options," Kemp said. "This year [the bonus pool] is closer to 10 million. It opens us up, gives us a little more routes to play with and build a deep class with."

In its most recent mock Draft, MLB Pipeline projected the Padres to select right-hander Ryan Sloan out of York High School in Illinois. Seems a reasonable enough fit. The Padres have used eight straight first-round picks on high schoolers, after all.

Kemp says that isn't necessarily something the organization plans for. It's just fallen that way -- perhaps not entirely by chance.

"It's just been guys that have been really exciting to us," Kemp said. "We've had success training those types of guys once we get them in player development, and we've done a good job of evaluating that type of talent on the ground."

Indeed, Merrill is the obvious success story in San Diego. But it runs deeper than that. For example, CJ Abrams, the Padres' 2019 first-round pick, will be joining Merrill at the All-Star Game.

Then again, Kemp was quick to note that there are no hard-and-fast rules the Padres live by. They’re going to draft the best player on their board, the best player for their future plans.

“Good chance to reload the farm,” Kemp said. “We’re real excited.”