[Sundance]

With the 26th overall pick in the 2035 Draft, the San Diego Padres selected high school pitcher Juan Lemus.

There was just no way that we could pass up Lemus when we saw him still on the board. I know the knock against him – he’ll need to drastically improve his third pitch if he wants to be a starter. At the moment, he projects to be a reliever, and I suppose there weren’t many teams out there that wanted to use their first round pick on a bullpen arm. But we were willing to take that chance. He was rated as a top 10 talent coming into this draft, and there wasn’t anyone close to being a better option when our time came. If his third pitch develops, then he’s the biggest steal of the draft. If not, then we still should have a quality reliever who is much less of a project than any other player available at the time.

2nd Round Pick: OF Chris Holland
Having taken an arm in the first round, I definitely wanted to target a bat in the second. I feel that Holland is an underrated talent. He’s got good, but not great speed, and he is incredibly smart on the bases and picks his spots very well. He looks like he should hit for a decent average, he’s a line drive hitter that lives in the gaps, no homerun power to speak off, and he knows how to battle at the plate. He looks like a future Gold Glove defender that can play anywhere in the outfield, and he has superb range.

3rd Round Pick: SS Clarence Perry
He’s a bit of a project. Offensively, his game is lacking. My hope is that once he’s in our system that his batting skills will improve. I’m not counting it, but I’m hoping for it. He's got decent speed and is a very smart runner. He’s an incredible defender that can play both middle infield spots equally well. At worst, he’s a guy that we can bring in for depth as a defensive sub if needed.

4th Round Pick: RHP Jonathon Jackson
Jackson feels like a pretty good steal in the 4th round. He’s got a low ceiling, but he comes in already very polished. He’s probably only a year or so away from being an AAA player and a possible call up in the pen.

5th Round Pick: RHP Ed Matherson
He’s not as polished as Jackson, but he is another guy that comes into our organization quite developed. His story is much the same as Jackson – low ceiling, but he’s further along in his development than most of our picks. He’s much more of a project than Jackson is, but he seems like a very solid pick for the 5th round.

#1 Overall Pick: CF Brad Scott (Memphis)