Pitcher Ryan Weathers is Drawing Interest of Padres

In recent weeks, prep left-handed pitcher Ryan Weathers has drawn the interest of the San Diego Padres, as the team searches for answers in Monday’s draft.

If the name Weathers sounds familiar, it should; David Weathers pitched for 19 years in the Major Leagues, but his son Ryan has been receiving all of the attention lately. Ryan Weathers, who is currently ranked as the 13th-best prospect on MLBpipeline.com, is a left-handed pitcher for Loretto High School in Tennessee.

He recently was named the Gatorade National Baseball player of the year after he posted an 11-0 record with a 0.09 ERA, 148 strikeouts, and 10 walks in 76 innings while only allowing 24 hits and one run. That is the same award Padres’ top prospect MacKenzie Gore won last year before he was the first Padres player taken in the draft.

As it stands right now, Weathers is predicted to be a middle-of-the-first-round pick, but a lot of baseball scouts and writers believe the Padres may jump up to grab him.

While the scouting report on Weathers displays he does not have a true “out pitch”, he has shown that he can command his three-pitch mix (fastball, curveball and changeup) very well, leaving some scouts believing his curveball can be a 70-grade pitch eventually. His fastball has been clocked as high as 95 mph.

He repeats his delivery well and seems to throw strikes effortlessly, utilizing all of his tools, and if he does not sign, he could be a two-sport player at Vanderbilt. Weathers’ mother was an All-American basketball player at Belmont, which partly explains how he helped the basketball team win a state title, showing leadership, versatility, and athleticism. But all of these things may not be why the Padres will jump ahead to grab him at seven.

The Padres have been no stranger to acquiring players with an MLB pedigree, grabbing Cal Quantrill (Paul Quantrill played for 14 seasons in his MLB career) in the 2016 draft and trading for Fernando Tatis Jr. (Fernando Tatis played for 11 years in his MLB career) in a deal that sent James Shields to the White Sox. Weathers may be the next in line because something like that can play a big part in a young player’s career.

Catching up with Ryan Weathers on winning the Gatorade Player of the Year in Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and his improvement as a pitcher this season. https://t.co/1irWTLw7NK

— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) June 1, 2018

“He’s always told me, first and foremost, make sure you’re a good teammate,” Weathers told Baseball America’s Carlos Collazo in a recent interview when asked about his dad. “He said you always have to be a good teammate. Don’t ever worry about your individual stuff, just put the team in front of you, and I’ve always been the leader of our high school.”

With a mindset like that, his lineage, his ability to pitch at a high level, and his athletic ability shown outside of baseball, it seems to make sense why the Padres may stretch for Weathers at seven.

Patrick Cusick

Since he was a little kid he wanted to be one of those guys at the game who had the headset on, listening to the Colonel and Uncle Teddy, he has grown out of that, but the love is still there. Padres’ coverage will be biased at times, but mostly an honest dissection of the team he loves.