SAN DIEGO — The Padres certainly have a type under general manager A.J. Preller: Young, toolsy and plays up the middle.
So it’s no surprise that they did not venture off course with their first pick in Major League Baseball’s amateur draft on Sunday, selecting high school center fielder Dillon Head with the 25th overall selection.
A left-handed hitter from Homewood-Flossmoor High in Illinois, the left-handed-hitting Head boasts top-of-the-scale speed and the ability to develop more strength has he grows into a 6-foot, 185-pound frame.
A Clemson recruit, Head is ranked No. 27 in MLB.com’s draft rankings as “few players in this draft can match his combination of hitting ability and speed.”
Baseball America ranks Head its 34th-best prospect: “He projects to be a line drive/gap bat at the next level, though he does possess strength to the pull side and can leave the yard when he gets extended.”
The 25th overall pick comes with a recommended $3.17 signing bonus, more than half of what the Padres have to spend on the 2023 draft.
Signing Xander Bogaerts, who rejected Boston’s qualifying offer, cost the Padres their second- and fifth-round picks and the bonus money associated with those slots, dragging their total pool down to $5.417 million, the third lowest that teams have to spend this year.