Padres close to setting up Draft board

ST. PETERSBURG -- The Padres are probably about two weeks away from putting up their Draft board in advance of baseball's First-Year Player Draft next month.

The board will have plenty of names, some more realistic than others for Chad MacDonald, the Padres' vice president and general manager of player personnel, who will preside over his second Draft.

The Padres have the No. 13 overall pick, which means the perceived elite group of players -- most likely seven or eight of them, according to those in the know -- could be gone by the time the team picks.

"There's probably more balance [in the Draft] than people give it credit for," MacDonald said. "There are a lot of high school hitters out there. I think people are quick to grade a Draft. But our only goal is to find people who can help us win games.

"We pick 13th, so everyone has to be in play."

The Padres have three of the top 69 picks in the Draft and four of the top 86 overall selections. The Draft will be held June 6 at MLB Network's Studio 42 in Secaucus, N.J.

"The process has been really good," MacDonald said. "[Scouting director] Billy [Gasparino] has done an outstanding job of putting the pieces together."

The Padres promoted Gasparino in September after he had served as their national cross-checker since 2010.

The goal is to get as many eyes and evaluations on potential picks as possible, which means MacDonald, Gasparino, Bob Filotei, Kurt Kemp (national cross-checkers), Sean Campbell, Chip Lawrence, Tim Holt, Pete DeYoung (regional supervisors), Dan Cholowsky (adviser to amateur scouting) and Eddie Ciafardini (assistant, amateur scouting) have been busy.

The Padres have also had AJ Hinch (vice president, assistant general manager), Omar Minaya (senior vice president, baseball operations) and even general manager Josh Byrnes look at amateur players as well.

MacDonald is quick to credit the area scouts, the foot soldiers in this puzzle who first identify players and develop relationships with them, all while gauging if they will be good fits for the organization.

"One thing all successful organizations have in common is they trust their people," MacDonald said. "We have put good people in place. The area scouts drive the train and lead us to the player, the cross-checkers compare them to other guys in that region. But for me, the process has to start with the area scouts."