The Padres and third-rounder Cole Wilcox are in agreement on a $3.3MM signing bonus, MLB.com’s Jim Callis reports (on Twitter). With the deal, Wilcox, a right-hander out of the University of Georgia, receives a record bonus for a third-round pick and absolutely shatters his slot value of $767,800.
Entering the draft, Wilcox was widely regarded as a potential first-round talent, but as a draft-eligible sophomore, he had some leverage working in his favor. Concerns over signability might’ve caused some clubs to pass, and the fact that Wilcox’s eventual bonus aligns closely with what would’ve been Top 20 slot money illustrates the difficulties other teams may have had in hammering out a deal. The Padres signed top pick Robert Hassell III nearly $900K under-slot, though, and they also “saved” $450K on third-rounder Owen Caissie and fourth-rounder Levi Weaver alike.
Wilcox, 20, ranked inside the draft’s 25 best prospects in the opinion of The Athletic’s Keith Law (No. 14), FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen (No. 18), ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel (No. 23) and the team at MLB.com (No. 23) and Baseball America (No. 24). Wilcox’s fastball reached 100 mph in a bullpen role and sat mid- to upper-90s as a starter, Law notes. He also has the makings of a pair of above-average offspeed pitches, with his slider ahead of his changeup by most counts (although Callis & Co. believe the opposite to be the case in their report).
As with any pitching prospect, there are some red flags — notably Wilcox’s at-times spotty command — but his 6’5″, 232-pound frame and arsenal of power offerings are enough for Padres fans to dream on as the organization adds yet another high-end talent to its minor league ranks.
Hell yeah.
Future HoF
I didn’t know this article was about Blake Swihart or Rob Refsnyder
Don’t sleep on Clint Frazier.
Kudos to AJ for keeping the pipeline full of prospects. For a variety of reasons, many young players do not advance to MLB. But a full pipeline increases yours odds of some bubbling to the top.
The way Friedman and the Dodgers are looking, the Pads are going to need to hit on as many prospects as possible.
Well played, AJ… well played.
I agree, draft as many high end prospects as possible. Some will meet their expectation. That’s a nice deal for a top 20 prospect
Fully tumescent
Beast! Padres scouting is 2nd to none, awful at free agency(Hosmer, Machado, Kinsler), debateable on trades(Myers,Hand, Franmil/Paddack, Tatis )and jury is still out on player development. Darren Balsley now in the minors is going to be a huge asset for our pitchers. Excited to see our top 13 prospects headed to 60 man roster and get some great competition. Go Padres!
“Padres scouting is 2nd to none”
That’s not true. Cardinals and Dodgers are definitely tops there. And Trea Turner, Max Fried and Luis Urias probably have something to say about the Padres’ scouting being even average.
And while I don’t necessarily disagree about them being awful at free agency, I’m not sure Machado is a good example of that. Also, you were defending the Hosmer signing when it happened so…
The Padres drafted or signed all 3 of those guys. That would actually go down as a big plus for the scouting department. The scouts didn’t trade them.
It would go down as a big plus for the previous scouting department. It was the current scouting department that didn’t speak up when Preller wanted to trade them away.
That still doesn’t make them points in the Padres’ current scouting department’s favor.
The old Luis Urias tell.
The old making asinine attempts to derail a discussion tell.
@ “And Trea Turner, Max Fried and Luis Urias probably have something to say about the Padres’scouting being even average.”
@”That still doesn’t make them points in the current scouting department’s favor.”
So…them being traded counts AGAINST the current scouting department even though it wasn’t them who drafted these players? How does that work?
if you trade away a player and that player does well it counts against you. Pretty standard stuff.
The current scouting department didn’t have anything to do with drafting those 3. You made that point. So why is it supposed to count against the current scouting department when they are traded?
Because they were in-house when those players were traded.
So was the janitor. Maybe it is his fault.
Preller is the one who makes the trades.
Well no one ever said the janitor has any input on who Preller does or doesn’t sign/trade. But if Preller trading away good players doesn’t count against the scouts, then him signing good players doesn’t count for them.
Scouts locate and recommend amateur players to the GM. If the scouts find a hidden gem, they get the credit. Anything that happens to a player after he is signed has nothing to do with the scouts.
Drafting a projected 1st round pick in the third round is not good scouting. Good creative work by Preller to get him signed but it has nothing to do with good scouting. Their scouting is definitely second to quite a few teams.
Pretty much that. If RH3 has a better career than Zac Veen THEN we can talk about Preller’s good scouting. But if teams thought Cole Wilcox would sign there’s no way he’s still on the board at #80.
I almost care what your opinion is foo
Well you used a guy who has hit 25% below league average as an example of why the Padres scouting isnt top notch. Simply because you think he’ll be good. Which, uhh you know is possible but he certainly hasn’t demonstrated that.
But what that statement really does is tip off your hiding in plain sight account.
Nor have most players who literally just turned 23 years old and were mismanaged by an incompetent manager and GM.
Congratulations Einstein. You win absolutely nothing. Now do you have anything relevant to add about the Padres or about Cole Wilcox? Cuz if so we’d all love to hear it.
I don’t recall writing him off. I do recall you stating he was one of the reasons why Preller can’t identify talent though. Which is a pretty damning conviction for a guy who hasn’t shown a thing at the ML level.
Keep the anger though, it suits you!
Had Anthony Rizzo shown a thing at the MLB level when he was traded? (at the same age Urias was when he was traded)
Not angry. Just find it odd that you feel the need to give your unsolicited opinion on things not relevant to the article. You’re like the kid in my 3rd grade class back in the day who wouldn’t stop talking about airplanes.
When you take the article to left field and discuss Luis Urias. Luis Urias is now fair game.
That’s how comment sections work. You do the same thing—as do most others. The nature of a comment board. But I think you know that. And the straw man Rizzo thing was garbage. What if you had name dropped Lewis Brinson as a reason why Jon Daniels couldn’t recognize talent after his struggles rookie year?
Well for starters, Lewis Brinson hadn’t had his rookie season when Jon Daniels traded him. Now if you want to talk about David Stearns trading him, he was getting a guy whose floor was basically Brinson’s ceiling. The only thing that Brinson had at that point that Yelich didn’t have was being younger and controlled one year longer. With Urias on the other hand, idk how closely you follow the Padres, but based on the way they used him in 2018-19 and what they traded him for (along with Eric Lauer) it’s abundantly clear that Preller never believed in the guy and just wanted to get rid of him.
I have made no secret of what I think of Luis Urias. I’ll have no problem accepting it if I’m wrong, especially considering the fact that the Padres basically NEED him to bust at this point. Trading away a good major league ready player at a position of need at this point would be a disaster for them. But I don’t see that happening. Nor am I about to write off a barely 23 y/o who ranked #27 on MLBPipeline after 302 sporadic major league PA’s where he actually showed signs of improving in the last month or two.
I’m a big Cole Wilcox fan but I see him as a shut down closer with his control problems, but I also think this is an overpay Bc Jared Kelly is who has better stuff went for 3 million and that 300000 or so could of gave the pads another top 200 guy
MLBPipeline likes Kelley better. Fangraphs likes Wilcox better. We’ll just see what happens.
I personally like Kelly better, but Wilcox is much closer to the majors. We took our shot on a high upside HS arm who will need many years of development with Lange.
I would have drafted differently, but we will have to wait to see how everyone turns out. Tons of high upside RHPs in this draft.
Basically got another 1st rounder. Well done. I wonder if he will be added to the 60 man roster.
I think Dennis Lin said he would likely be
Gore
Patino
Paddack
Lamet
Wilcox
Not a bad starting 5
Starting to look pretty darn good!
looks to be a successful draft and signing period for Preller and Co.. I would have to assume that both Hassell and Wilcox slide into the Padres top 10 prospects list, getting 2 guys in the same draft that can rank that high in such a good farm system is quite amazing. I can’t wait to see who they can add Internationally come January.
The Padres need to change their name to the “San Diego Prospects”. All we hear about is how stacked their minor league system is but they can’t seem to win over 80 games in MLB. It’s time for them to promote some of these ‘can’t miss’ prospects or trade them for proven talent. Then again, if I were a Padres fan, I’m not sure I’d trust Preller’s assessment on what proven talent is, or how much to give up for it.
It’s time for the Padres to nut up or shut up. The Dodgers seem to be the only team in the West that can turn it’s minor league talent into bonafide stars in MLB.
I actually think if they play, the Padres will be a dark horse. This is the season they go all the way, if there is a season
If they can do it this year they can do it next year. They aren’t losing anyone important to FA next year unless you like Profar and by that point names like MacKenzie Gore and Luis Patino will have made their way to the majors.
Hey Vegas: If the Padres go all the way this year, that means they slipped it real good to the Dodgers.
That’s a fair assessment, Dorothy. For too long we have felt like the disrespected little brother to the LA boys. Our stated “window of contention” was always aimed around competing in 2021 so we should start to see the fruits of our labor and toil soon. I hope people are still sleeping on us because that would make the surprise even more fun! I’m super excited to be a Padre fan right now; how many other team’s fans can say that right now?
Hey Dorothy: You’re hating cause they’ve had the best prospects for years? What an idiot you are. “It’s time for the Padres to nut up or shut up.”? Snap on a large bag of ballpark peanuts over that mini-you of yours and say that to Preller to his face. “The Dodgers seem to be the only team in the West that can turn it’s minor league talent into bonafide stars in MLB.” Not into World Champs, evidently. The $300,000,000 they get yearly for 25 years ($8.4 Billion) from their Time Warner deal allows them to sign and carry the equivalent of TWO teams on their 25 man roster. Time for your Bridesmaids to nut up and win a WS. Until they do, they’re nothing—just like you.
What makes him draft eligible as a sophomore?
Turning 21 years old 45 days after draft day or earlier.
Hey jorge: Same thing that made him eligible as a high school graduate.
Great player, great signing, great future… let’s give it 5 years to reassess but already looking like a great draft!
Levi Thomas was their 4th round pick, not Levi Weaver.