Padres Top Prospect Compared to $182 Million Superstar Shortstop

The San Diego Padres have an influx of talent both on the major league roster, as well as through their farm system.

Friar Faithful may already know the name by now, but Padres No. 1 ranked prospect is switch-hitting shortstop Leodalis De Vries.

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Fans are not the only ones who are taking note on the talented 18-year-old, but ESPN's MLB insider Kiley McDaniel made a list of the top 100 prospects across the majors. De Vries is sitting at the No. 15 spot.

When it came to which major leaguer comes to mind for McDaniel, he made a very flattering comparison.

"A switch-hitting version of Willy Adames?" McDaniel writes.

In 75 low-A games last season, De Vries showed why he is coveted among the baseball world. He put up a slash line of .237/.361/.441 and an OPS of .802.

He added 11 home runs, 38 RBIs, and even 13 stolen bases.

Another major league comparison, this time coming from De Vries himself, is Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez. Both are from the Dominican Republic and grew up about an hour away from each other, both are switch-hitters, and De Vries claimed that he models his game after the six-time All Star.

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The high praise didn't stop from McDaniel as he went on to discussing how De Vries may mature into an MLB star.

"I could see him hitting 25-30 homers at maturity and being a .240 or .250 hitter with a solid walk rate," McDaniel writes. "Defensively, he could bulk up enough that many teams would move him off of shortstop. It's obviously early, so he could also choose to lean into contact and prioritize sticking at shortstop above all else. Either way, De Vries looks like an incredibly precocious potential star."

De Vries is rapidly proving himself as one of the game's best, but the sky is the limit for this switch-hitting shortstop.

Padres draft picks like Jackson Merrill and James Wood already have demonstrated track records of San Diego's scouts being able to not only find, but develop top talent. If De Vries keeps up what he has been working on last season, he will certainly be next in line to stardom.

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