Kevin Padlo

There may not be a more talented 40-man roster than that of the Rays, so when they protected Padlo, an infielder with plus power, from the Rule 5 draft, it signaled that they saw him as part of their plans for 2020. This was not always a likely outcome, but he made it so after logging a 153 wRC+ at Double-A and a 151 wRC+ at Triple-A in his age-22/23 season. He has always struck out at a high clip (25.3 K% at Double-A, 29.7 K% at Triple-A), but with a 15.7 BB% last year, he demonstrated an effective three-true-outcomes skill set. Padlo pulls the ball over 50% of the time, but with groundball rates under 35%, shifts will be less effective than with a typical pull-heavy hitter. He can play first base and second base, but the hot corner is where he will get the bulk of his starts. Padlo will have to wait his turn in the minors, but could provide power and OBP when he gets his chance.

Padlo smacked a career-best 16 homers and tallied 41 extra-base hits overall as part of a .229/.358/.413 line over 508 plate appearances at Low-A Bowling Green in 2016, after arriving in the Rays organization from the Rockies system as part of the Corey Dickerson trade. He also posted the second-highest stolen base total of his career (14) but saw regression in other categories. His contact rate dropped to 68 percent, the second consecutive season he saw a decline in that category, while his strikeout rate saw a slight bump to 26.4 percent. However, Padlo profiles as a multi-tool prospect who still has ample room for development at only 20 years of age. He makes for a solid dynasty prospect for his potential production in the categories of extra-base hits, homers, RBI and stolen bases.

After a strong showing in rookie ball in 2014, Padlo was perhaps even more impressive in a more extended run with short-season Boise last year. A fifth-round pick two years ago out of high school, Padlo slashed .294/.404/.502 with nine home runs and 33 steals (in 38 attempts) in 308 plate appearances in the Northwest League. Initially he was given an aggressive assignment to Low-A Asheville to start the year, but after a mediocre 27 games he was sent to short-season ball, where he was still almost three years younger than the average player in the league. Even when he was struggling at Low-A, he still sported a 14.1 percent walk rate, so it seems likely that Padlo will be much more successful after presumably heading back to Low-A at the outset of the 2016 season. His prospect stock took a minor dip during the offseason because of a trade from Colorado to Tampa Bay, but he remains a top-200 prospect for dynasty leagues.