Top pitching prospects, 2026 draftees help Padres' Single-A affiliate storm to title

On a historic night for Ethan Salas, the Padres' No. 1 prospect, his first Minor League club -- Single-A Lake Elsinore -- solidified its own place in history with a California League championship.

The Storm routed San Jose, 13-2, in decisive Game 3 of the California League Finals on Wednesday at Excite Ballpark.

During the regular season, Lake Elsinore ran rampant, swiping a Minor League-best 357 bases in 131 games (at an 80.4 percent success rate), which ranks as the second-highest single-season total in the Minor Leagues since 2005, trailing only the 2024 Aberdeen squad.

Seven different players recorded at least 20 stolen bases, including Qrey Lott, who delivered a 3-for-4 performance in the clincher and added, naturally, a steal. 

It’s not often one affiliate boasts such a high density of a club’s Top 30 Prospects list, but the late-season Storm squad was particularly stacked -- four of San Diego’s top five prospects played an integral role in the Cal League Finals and 12 of the 30 were at the level for the postseason.

Lake Elsinore’s win marked the second Minor League championship for a San Diego affiliate in 2026 after DSL Padres Gold repeated as champs in late August.

Here are a few of the most notable contributors to the Storm’s first title-winning club since 2022:

Kruz Schoolcraft, LHP

Having spent a solid chunk of the year as a member of MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 list, the Padres’ No. 2 prospect had an up-and-down first full campaign in the Minors. His stuff -- with a plus fastball and changeup -- came as advertised, with Schoolcraft striking out better than a batter per inning. His 11.4 percent swinging-strike rate was fifth-best among all San Diego Minor Leaguers with at least 70 innings, although he walked 57 hitters in 79 1/3 frames. 

But the 19-year-old delivered when it mattered most. He spun five scoreless frames with eight strikeouts in Game 2 of the Cal League semis, helping the club punch its ticket to the Finals. Over his final nine starts of the year, he allowed two runs or fewer on seven occasions.

2026 draftees

When Lake Elsinore opened its season on April 2, these guys weren’t yet professionals. Coleman Borthwick (SD No. 3) and Nu’u Contrades (SD No. 22) were the biggest contributors in the winner-take-all Game 3. Borthwick, the club’s first-round pick, tossed a pair of scoreless frames with two strikeouts. Both of his professional outings came during the club’s run to the title. Contrades, a sixth-round choice, popped three homers and swiped seven bags across 25 regular-season games before swatting a solo homer Wednesday.

The top four of the Storm’s lineup for the Championship Series was composed entirely of 2026 draftees with second-rounder Elliot Lascelles (SD No. 5), seventh-rounder Joe Tiroly and post-fourth-round compensation pick Alex Conover (SD No. 21) hitting ahead of Contredas. Lascelles was the regular-season star, hitting .321 in 15 games before Conover took over the playoff spotlight by posting a .389 average and a 1.145 OPS en route to the crown.

Lan-Hong Su, RHP

Picking up where Borthwick left off in Game 3, Su dominated San Jose hitters, striking out eight batters and inducing 14 swings-and-misses across three innings of one-run ball. It was a capstone moment for the 19-year-old who wasn’t even signed to play pro ball at this time last year.

Su, who received a sizable $775,000 bonus to join the organization last October out of Taiwan, now ranks as the Padres’ No. 9 prospect. He began the year in the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League and was shelled in his first three Single-A outings after his late June promotion. But he closed with a flurry, allowing two runs or fewer in nine of his final 10 outings, a stretch in which he compiled 46 strikeouts across 29 1/3 innings.

“You’ve taken a talented guy with our player development plan, and you're starting to see the hard work everyone has put in start to come to fruition,” Padres vice president of amateur and international scouting Chris Kemp said of Su earlier this month.

Ryan Wideman, OF

After a rough go in his first taste of Single-A at the end of 2025, the Padres’ No. 10 prospect tore up the Cal League to open the campaign. In addition to reaching the unique marker of hitting an over-the-wall and inside-the-park homer in the same game on April 21, Wideman swiped 43 bags in 65 games and hit .314 to force his way up to High-A Fort Wayne. He finished just three steals off the circuit lead for the entire season.