SAN DIEGO - The San Diego Padres today announced the expansion of Future Padres, the club's youth jersey program. Now in its fifth year, Future Padres has expanded to include softball. The announcement was made to in conjunction with Bonita Valley Softball's Opening Day ceremonies. Padres President and CEO Mike Dee and Senior Vice President of Community and Military Affairs Tom Seidler were joined for the announcement by team broadcasters and Padres players including Brandon Maurer, Tyson Ross and Nick Vincent.
In 2016, the program will outfit more than 6,000 local softball players with a Padres-branded performance jersey and corresponding SD headband. In total, more than 20,000 Padres-branded jerseys and matching caps or headbands have been distributed to youth baseball and softball leagues in the San Diego area this year. The program now benefits more than 2,000 teams across more than 70 leagues in the San Diego area.
                                                                                                      
"We are proud to say the Future Padres program has nearly doubled in size since its inception in 2012," said Padres Senior Vice President, Community and Military Affairs Tom Seidler. "Adding softball jerseys to the program has been a priority for us, and we look forward to seeing them on the field. Continuously evolving and expanding upon this jersey program is an important way to connect our local youth with not only with their hometown team, but also with the games of baseball and softball."
The jerseys and caps distributed to youth baseball teams in 2016 represent 12 different styles of jerseys that the Padres have worn throughout the club's history. Softball teams were offered their own set of 12 varying styles in fashion colors. In addition to outfitting the youth participants, the Padres also provided team coaches with corresponding t-shirts, and each league with a custom banner to display at its field. Please see the attached documents for jersey style guides for both youth baseball and softball.
Providing these uniform essentials free-of-charge gives the leagues the opportunity to re-allocate funds typically budgeted toward uniforms to other areas in need of improvement. Those areas include field improvement and maintenance, equipment needs and concessions stand upgrades. In some cases, leagues have been able to significantly drop registration fees, allowing more kids have the opportunity to play their sport.
"The partnership between girls softball and the San Diego Padres is a 'win-win' for everyone," said Bonita Valley Girls Softball President Scott Hill. "Our league alone has saved thousands of dollars that, in turn, we used for all new bases, balls, training gear, field equipment and a new shave ice machine in our snack bar! We were also able to keep our registration fees at the same prices as they were for the previous two years. We hope this is a long-term partnership that will continue to help our league maintain its high standards in the community of Chula Vista."
This year, Clorox will once again hold a #FuturePadres photo sweepstakes on social media throughout the 2016 season. One winner a month will receive 20 tickets for their teammates and coaches to attend a game at Petco Park with a special pregame batting practice visit. For more information, visit www.padres.com/playball.