As the Padres international scouting director, Chris Kemp’s department spent nearly $80 million – including taxes on overages – on the 2016-2017 class. This year, the Padres’ $300,000 cap on individual players added up to quite a bit of strategizing as their scouts scoured the globe for talent.

Union-Tribune: So you were finishing up the 2016 class at the same time you’re preparing for a 2017-2018 class that’s capped. What goes into that as far strategizing for both pools of players at the same time?

Kemp: That’s something that I don’t know if anybody will go through it again as a scouting department because of the new rules, being in a year where there were so many teams under penalty and having a new cap. There was going to be a market drop to some degree because so many teams were capped at $300,000. It’ll never happen like that again to have 12 or 13 teams under penalty and at the same time you’re scouting that class with your window open to keep adding on. You’re looking at Cubans, you’re looking at guys who pop up late and guys who are coming up July 2 and trying to figure out that market and who’s prices might fall.

U-T: Explain the market effect of having so many teams capped at the same time.


Kemp: That was the most interesting part of the whole 2017 international class. It will never happen again. There were a lot of teams that were stuck at ($300,000). Then the new rules come in, so everybody is capped. There is no team that can come in with $30 or $40 million and take all the players. It was a big chess game of trying to predict who is going to get the big money and we had a grouping of 30-40 players valued fairly high. At some point, the money’s going to run out and you see that this grouping of really good players is going to have to accept $300,000 and it’s going to be us and 12 other teams after these groups of players. That’s when the recruiting comes in. You want the families to be close with you. You want to know the family dynamics. You want the kids to trust you. You want to separate yourself from that penalty pack.

U-T: Tell us about some of the guys you’re excited about from this class.

Kemp: The first guy that has to be talked about is Manuel Partida. He’s a left-handed pitcher from Mexico – from the Monterrey program. We had him as the No. 1 left-handed pitcher in all of Mexico. He was our guy. He was throwing 79 when he was 14 and we kept coming back and he was getting stronger. The fastball was 85-87 and his last outing this spring he was 88-90 with two breaking balls and change-up. … We’ve got outfielder Angel Solarte – no relation – from Venezuela. He was another high-interest guy because of his tools – plus runner, plus arm and real bat speed. … Yeison Santana is a shortstop from the same hometown as Franchy Cordero in the Dominican. He’s a young, projection body. He’s going to have a future plus arm, but the reason we signed him is because of his bat. He’s offensive-minded and going to be able to find the gaps and stay at short. … Frank Lopez is right-handed pitcher from Venezuela. He’s 6-2, 170 and an easy starter look. He’s already touching 93 with a low-80s slider. A really high ceiling. … And then we have another Mexico connection with Brandon Valenzuela. We had him as the No. 1 catcher in the country. He’s a switch-hitter, 6-1, 180 with a strong frame and a big league look to him. He comes from the Mexico City program that Mr. Harp owns. We sign a lot of guys from that program, like Tirso Ornelas last year. They do a really good job. To come out of Mexico in our penalty year, at least on our board, if you get the No. 1 catcher and the No. 1 lefty, to get those guys and the depth we got out of Venezuela and the DR, it’s a pretty exciting class for us.

U-T: Your background was in amateur scouting in the states. What’s been the biggest challenge in transitioning to international scouting?


Kemp: The lack of games. When you’re in the states as an amateur scout, whether it’s a high school or college season, you’ve got all spring to watch these guys in games. That leads to more video, more stats, more history, more track record, more makeup history. In the international market, it’s hard to see them consistently in organized games.

U-T: How do you get around that?

Kemp: By being on the ground. Trainers are starting to have more leagues, more showcases, but you can’t get around it at the end of the day. You’re not really going to get a well-run, Perfect Game-type tournament internationally. You deal with what you got. It’s spending time on the ground. It’s having eligible pitchers come in and you create games and at-bats. When the kids are able to come to the complex, I make out lineups and basically play captain making teams. When (A.J. Preller, Logan White and David Post) come down, they’ll stay at the complex for five straight days. I’ll bring in players from all across the island of guys that we like and we’ll split them up and play games.

U-T: Where’s the most challenging place to scout?


Kemp: Any time you go to Venezuela your antennas are up. It’s no joke down there. There’s family and kids that need help, that need opportunity. It’s our duty to go down there to see those players. We feel like we can go down there and get some good players to help us win, but at the end of the day, if people stop scouting Venezuela, the game is going to stop growing there. You have to go and get them. There’s a lot of situations down there. It can be scary. Lot of road blocks and police stops and civil unrest and protest. It’s tough at times. I have a lot of respect for our scouts down there and a lot of respect for the players and the families. It’s just different down there.

U-T: Are there teams that just stay away from Venezuela in general because of the risks?

Kemp: Yes, there’s a lot of teams not going. That’s why you see MLB doing a showcase in Aruba from July 18-19. They are taking all the top players for the 2018 class and doing a showcase in Aruba – because of the lack of scouts going into the country and the dangers associated with it.

U-T: Could you see yourself going back to scouting in the states?


Kemp: I love both. Like Sunday at the Futures Game, I had a crazy flashback. Brent Honeywell was one of my last assignments as a scout with Texas. I met with him and his family a night or two before the draft in 2014. I loved Brent Honeywell. And one of my first assignments as an international director was Yoan Moncada. The first AB of the Futures Games was Honeywell vs. Moncada. I loved the whole process of scouting Honeywell – his story came out of nowhere. I loved the process of scouting Moncada. To see them match-up at the Futures Game, I was sitting there in Miami thinking, dang, this is cool.


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jeff.sanders@sduniontribune.com; Twitter: @sdutSanders