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For the second year in a row, the Padres select a pitcher with their top pick in the draft. As had been widely rumored the Padres selected a college arm this time with Stanford’s Cal Quantrill. The young right handed hurler has two major things known about him: 1. His father is former major leaguer, and former Friar, Paul Quantrill 2. He had Tommy John surgery and hasn't pitched in a while.
Quantrill becomes the latest in a string of high draft picks over the years who is drafted despite the increasingly common elbow surgery. You could compare the situation to the one of Rockies’ pick Jeff Hoffman who went #9 overall in 2014 and is now a top 100 prospect. Cathedral Catholic High School’s Brady Aiken also ended up going 19th overall last year after first being picked #1 overall in 2014, not signing and then suffering an elbow injury in between the two drafts.
Over at MinorLeagueBall.com they recently wrote about Quantrill. Here’s the scouting report they gave:
Listed at 6-3, 185, Quantrill was born February 10, 1995. When healthy he features a low-90s fastball, an above-average change-up, and solid-average sliders and curves. He has the command, pitchability, and mound presence of a major league starter, not surprising given his background, and projected well as a number three starter before the injury. His makeup is extremely well-regarded.
Another aspect of this pick has to do with what most Padres fans won’t want to hear about: money. It’s possible that the Padres have some sort of a deal worked out with Quantrill to save some of the money allocated for the #8 overall pick and use it to sign players with the club’s later picks that are asking for more money than would usually be handed out to players picked at that point. Sometimes that works out, sometimes it doesn’t.
Check out our MLB Draft 2016 primer for information on following this year’s Draft, and join the conversation in our MLB Draft 2016 Day One Open Thread.