Padres baseball has gotten off to a fun start at the major league level. The MLB squad currently sits atop the NL West at 10-3. 

At the minor league level, Padres’ affiliates have also made plenty of noise, from top prospects shining to a Double-A Player of the Week Award.

A week after MiLB Opening Day, Padres affiliates are a combined 13-16, with Double-A San Antonio leading the way at 5-1.

Here’s how each squad has fared after a week of games:

 El Paso Chihuahuas (Triple-A)

Record: 5-7, 7th Place Pacific Coast League

The Triple-A season began a week earlier than the rest of the minor leagues, meaning that the Chihuahuas have already played 12 games. Statistically, that means larger sample sizes and more reliability.

As usual, the “launching pad” commonly used to describe El Paso’s Southwest University Park has facilitated plenty of offense. However, in typical fashion, the pitching has been spotty, posting a 5.82 team ERA so far.

Hitters

Trenton Brooks, Oscar Gozalez, and Yonathan Perlaza both rank in the top ten in slugging percentage and have led the way offensively so far. Brooks has mashed three homers and is riding a 12-game hitting streak to open the year.

Oscar Gonzalez, who many thought could’ve made the big-league roster, was called up on Tuesday when Jackson Merrill landed on the 10-day IL. During his stint with the Chihuahuas, he slugged .677 and mashed two homers against Oklahoma City.

Luis Campusano has also started strong, batting .344 and drawing more walks than strikeouts. He’s homered just once, but emphatically, drilling the lone shot all the way out of Chicksaw Bricktown Ballpark on the road versus Oklahoma City.

Luis Campusano’s first home run of 2025 pic.twitter.com/6fKwkt75Wi

— Al Scott (@AlScott1998) April 2, 2025

As expected, Tirso Ornelas is also off to a solid start, as he’s reached base in every game. He’s posting an OPB over .400 and faring well in the field, spending time in both left and center field in the early going.

Early on, the biggest struggler is catcher Brett Sullivan, who’s collected just four hits in 24 at-bats and has only walked twice. Outfielder Forrest Wall and infielder Mike Brosseau would like their first two weeks back as well, as they’re both posting a sub-600 OPS in their combined 32 at-bats early on.

Pitchers

Opening Day starter Ryan Bergert has shown great promise so far. His inflated ERA is due to a rough outing against the first-place Las Vegas Aviators, but he’s been impressive otherwise. He piled up eleven strikeouts over five innings against Oklahoma City while walking none.

Stephen Kolek— who was in the 5th-starter mix for San Diego— has been up and down so far. He tossed five scoreless frames in his first outing against Salt Lake, inducing lots of weak contact; however, he surrendered 10 hits over four innings versus Oklahoma City.

Wes Benjamin has made two starts and one relief appearance and has been good at limiting hard contact, allowing just a .200 average.

Jared Kollar has had a rocky start to his campaign, surrendering 11 runs in six and two-thirds innings over his first two starts. He’s allowed as many home runs as strikeouts and could find himself in the bullpen sooner rather than later.

Out of the bullpen, Kevin Kopps has led the way for El Paso. He’s allowed just one run in eight and a third innings across five appearances, striking out nine in the process. Also making frequent appearances has been Jason Blanchard, who’s likely to be a workhorse throughout the year.

Several relievers haven’t gotten off to the best starts, but likely, the most concerning name would be Ron Marinaccio. Marinaccio is 29 and has pitched in over 100 MLB games in his career. His 2.63 WHIP is far from what was anticipated of the right-hander, who is on the 40-man roster and was expected to be a depth piece for the big-league club.

A very positive sign for the Chihuahuas’ bullpen was the return of Francis Peña to the roster. He began the season back in Peoria, working himself up to be game-ready. It worked, as his velocity was back up to 98 and topped out at 99 MPH.

Francis Pena 2 Ks from today pic.twitter.com/W0S0u3rxlk

— Giannis Auntiegotapoodle (@TooMuchMortons_) April 9, 2025

San Antonio Missions (Double-A)

Record: 5-1, 1st Place Texas League

The talent-loaded San Antonio Missions have been a fun show to watch so far. The roster boasts seven of the Padres’ top 30 prospects on MiLB.com, leading all Padres affiliates. San Antonio’s roster is headlined by No. 2 Prospect Ethan Salas and a plethora of pitching talent for him to catch.

San Antonio’s pitching has been incredible, as they lead the Texas League in ERA by nearly a run. The offense has been around average but consistent. The Missions have yet to score less than four runs in a game this year.

Hitters

Romeo Sanabria has been extremely impressive so far. He’s collected 12 hits in his 26 at-bats, including two doubles and two homers. His OPS sits at 1.250; impressively, he’s yet to draw a walk.

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

Back-to-back days with a homer for the @missionsmilb first baseman, Romeo Sanabria pic.twitter.com/dHf70qAHjg

— Al Scott (@AlScott1998) April 10, 2025

Third-baseman Devin Ortiz has impressed early on as well. He earned the season’s first Texas League Player of the Week award after starting his campaign 5-9 with a homer and a walk.

Marcos Castañon and Moisés Gomez have also made noise for the Missions early on. Gomez is slugging .500, and Castañon leads the team in two-baggers with four in the young season.

As was somewhat expected, Ethan Salas has started slow offensively, batting 4-19 in the early going with four singles. However, he’s picked it up a little lately, going 3-11 in his last three contests with three RBIs.

Pitchers

No. 9 prospect Braden Nett got the Opening Day start and pitched three shutout innings while striking out four. He dealt with some traffic that limited him to just the three innings, but he tossed the ball well in his second career Double-A start.

No. 12 prospect Henry Baez struggled in his first inning of the season but had a better go around in his second inning, where he struck out two and didn’t allow a hit.

Jackson Wolf had a respectable opening outing, allowing two runs over four frames, walking none, and striking out four.

The other two top prospects, No. 13 Victor Lizarraga and No. 19 Jagger Haynes, showed well in their debuts. A pair of home runs spoiled Lizarraga’s outing, but he allowed just a hit and no walks aside from the two homers. Haynes struck out four over two and a third, allowing just one run.

San Antonio’s bullpen has been fantastic so far. Miguel Cienfuegos delivered a four-inning, seven strikeout appearance while blanking the Sod Poodles. He then delivered three more shutout innings against the Hooks, racking up three more strikeouts.

David Morgan and Eduarniel Núñez have delivered multiple scoreless outings and have yet to surrender a run. The pair has combined for 11 strikeouts across just six and a third innings.

Ryan Och and Jake Higginbotham have also yet to allow a run for San Antonio and have yet to walk a batter.

Finally, No. 14 prospect Bragley Rodriguez has been nails as the closer. He’s two for two in his save opportunities, one of them being an impressive six-out save. Early on, his fastball has already topped out at 98 MPH, a good sign for the right-hander.

Fort Wayne TinCaps (High-A)

Record: 3-3, 4th Place Midwest League

Thanks to great pitching, the TinCaps have also enjoyed a good start to the season. Fort Wayne also leads in the Midwest League in ERA, thanks to some excellent bullpen work in the early going.

The roster is, of course, headlined by MiLB’s No. 18 Prospect Leodalis De Vries. However, the pitching staff also boasts the hard-throwing righty Isaiah Lowe, who comes in as the Padres’ No. 10 prospect.

Hitters

Brendan Durfee has led the TinCaps offensively to start the season, knocking in four RBIs and leading the team with three extra-base hits. While he’s been overshadowed by other catchers in the organization, he’s made noise to begin the year.

Braedon Karpathios and Brandon Butterworth have also started strong offensively for Fort Wayne, as both of them have an OPS north of .850.

Leo De Vries has turned some heads in his first week of High Single-A ball. While he’s been limited to singles, he’s hit the ball hard and shown elite speed. He’s swiped a base in the early going, along with beating out a hot shot off of the pitcher for a base hit.

Leo De Vries is just 18 years old as he makes his High-A debut for the @TinCaps.

The @Padres‘ No. 1 prospect (MLB No. 17) collected a pair of knocks and added a stolen base for good measure: pic.twitter.com/iMf2ObDBWl

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) April 5, 2025

Jack Costello got off to a good start with a couple of RBI knocks batting out of the two hole but has gone quieter since, checking in at just 3-24 on the young season. Prospect Rosman Verdugo has also started slow, hitting just .118 in his first 17 at-bats.

Pitchers

Isaiah Lowe pitched well in his season debut, going four innings and allowing just a run on two hits. He walked two as well, earning him an even 1.00 WHIP.

Fellow prospect Tyson Neighbors has made two appearances out of the bullpen and has yet to allow a run. He’s struck out four, walked three, and allowed just one hit so far.

Enmanuel Pinales delivered the best start of the year for Fort Wayne, as he tossed 3.2 innings, allowing just two hits and striking out four.

Josh Malitz, Nick Wissman, and Fernando Sanchez have also been scoreless out of the pen. The trio has combined for 11.1 innings and a whopping 17 punchouts to begin the year.

Lake Elsinore Storm (Single-A)

Record: 0-6, 8th Place California League

While it’s been a tough start record-wise for the Storm, the roster features San Diego’s top two 2024 draftees and plenty of young talent elsewhere.

No. 3 Prospect Kash Mayfield and No. 5 Prospect Boston Bateman are the heavyweights of the roster, but Lamar King Jr. and Kai Roberts are also notable prospects to watch on this team. Oh, and don’t forget about Sean Barnett, Lake Elsinore’s own two-way player.

Hitters

Lamar King Jr. is atop the Storm with a 1.222 OPS. He’s batting .450 with one of Lake Elsinore’s two homers. Additionally, he has eight of the team’s 19 RBIs as of Thursday. The No. 29 prospect is due for a jump in the prospect rankings if he continues to hit the ball at this level.

Sean Barnett has the other home run for Lake Elsinore, and he’s hitting .200 in the early going.

Kasen Wells, Ryan Jackson, and B.Y. Choi are all hitting above an .800 OPS. Wells has knocked two doubles already. Choi has struck out just twice in 14 PAs. Jackson has drawn a ridiculous nine walks in 23 plate appearances.

Ryan Wilson has had a rough first week, striking out seven times in 18 plate appearances and collecting just three singles.

Pitchers

Kash Mayfield was dominant in his first professional outing. He struck out the first three batters he saw, with a painted fastball for a called strike three and two pretty sliders for a pair of forwards K’s. He went on to strike out three more across two more scoreless frames, allowing no hits and just one walk.

Kash Mayfield’s first pro inning:
Strikeout
Strikeout
Strikeout

The @Padres‘ 2024 first-rounder gets his career underway with Single-A @Storm_Baseball. pic.twitter.com/fpNcGcBpyE

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) April 9, 2025

Boston Bateman had a rougher go around in his debut, giving up four runs over three and a third innings. He struck out four, walked three, and allowed four hits. He’s likely a longer work-in-progress than Mayfield, given that he’s less polished.

The bullpen has been rough out of the gate. However, Jesus Lopez has been the bright spot, pitching two and two-thirds innings without surrendering a run.

Carson Swilling and Bernard Jose have seen the most action for Lake Elsinore but have struggled to miss bats. They’ve combined for just five strikeouts but have allowed a whopping 14 hits.

Willy Warren

A 17-year-old San Diego native, Willy Warren is a baseball fan at heart who created High Leverage Baseball, a combination of around-the-league statistical analysis and breakdowns on X, and daily newsletters on the TikTok platform. Willy passionately studies Journalism at San Dieguito Academy, and is working to become billingual in Spanish to assist in communicating with Latin-born players and coaches.