Padres' Patino on the rise, just like his fastball

Luis Patino was giving his parents a tour of the dugout at Lake Elsinore Diamond in late June on a beautiful morning in Southern California when an unknown phone number popped up on his cellphone screen.

“This is it,” the Padres’ prospect told himself. “I’m going to get traded and it’s going to be in front of my parents. They came from Colombia to see me. This is a nightmare.”

On the other end of the line was Sam Geaney, the club’s senior director of player personnel, who had important news about the young man’s future. The pitcher grimaced, looked at his parents and prepared for the worst.

Then Geaney told the teen he had been selected to pitch in the 2019 SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game the next weekend in Cleveland.

“Getting that news was a dream come true,” Patino, 19, said in Spanish. “I admit that I was a little nervous to answer the phone. I was a bit scared.”

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Patino has nothing to fear these days. The Padres’ No. 3 prospect is on his way to making an impact on the big league level and it could happen next season.

This season, the right-hander spent the bulk of 2019 pitching with Class A Advanced Lake Elsinore, where he posted a 2.69 ERA and struck out 113 batters in 87 innings. The Padres moved him up to Double-A Amarillo for two starts. He gave up one earned run and racked up 10 strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings for the Sod Poodles.

“The next step is getting him to Instructional League, having a plan and following the plan,” said Chris Kemp, who serves as both international scouting director and Minor League field coordinator for the Padres. “We want him to have a great offseason, come to another strength and conditioning program in January and we’ll see where we go from there. We just want to focus on what’s ahead of him and work from there.”

Patino has already come a long way.

The Padres saw him for the first time at an international prospect showcase organized by Major League Baseball in February of 2016 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The young right-hander was generously listed on the roster at 5-foot-11 and 155 pounds.

The Padres liked what they saw from Patino that day in the Dominican -- athleticism and a fastball that hovered between 83-85 mph – they just needed to see more.

They got their chance a few months later in Cartagena, Colombia, in between games for prospects eligible to sign the next period. Most of the prospects in the 2016-2017 class, excluding Patino, had informal agreements with clubs, so teams had moved on to scouting 2017-2018 players.

“There was an announcement in Spanish basically saying some kids were going to throw and I heard Patino’s name, which I knew,” Kemp said. “I’m thinking that we better stick around to watch this guy and I’m glad we did. He was 85-88, really athletic and really loose. He looked like a kid that was making a jump and we were immediately interested.”

Patino and his father made the two-hour trip from their home in Barranquilla to Estadio Once de Noviembre for the tryout as a last resort. He returned home that night feeling optimistic. Patino signed with the Padres for $130,000 on July 2, 2016 and was placed in the team’s academy in the D.R.

The Padres, under the leadership of general manager A.J. Preller and Kemp, signed 47 prospects for $40 million -- and paid an additional $40 million in overage taxes -- during the 2016-2017 international signing period. In addition to Patino, the group signed during that period included heralded prospects like Adrian Morejon, Michel Baez, Tirso Ornelas, Tucupita Marcano, Gabriel Arias, Ronald Bolanos and Jeisson Rosario.

Patino’s acquisition went mostly unnoticed, but it didn’t take long for him to make an impression.

“Back in 2016, our coaches in the D.R. were telling me that Luis was going to throw 95 [mph] and that his arm was fast, and his arm was clean,” Kemp recalled. “And I was like, ‘OK, we will see.’ Then he hit 91 [mph] and it slowly went up each year. It increased to 92-93 and then 94-95 and now he’s up to upper 90s. It’s been phenomenal and fun to watch.”

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Patino, who is listed at 6-foot, 192 pounds, credits the increase in his fastball velocity to the club’s fitness program and long runs with his father during the offseason. The Padres built up his body, he said. His family has always kept him grounded.

“My family has always supported me,” Patino said. “They have always found a way to make a life for me and my sister. They always found a way for the family, but it was different.”

Patino’s parents, Carlos Patino Jimenez and Zulma Arzuza Rada, are college professors and have worked at universities across Colombia for the last 25 years. Their jobs often took them hundreds of miles away from Patino and his older sister, Silvia, for weeks and sometimes months at a time. In their parents’ absence, the children were raised by their grandparents and two live-in nannies.

His parents now work at the same college in Barranquilla, not far from their Patino’s childhood home.

“There were lots of hard years and we saw them as much as we could,” Carlos said in Spanish from Colombia. “Fortunately, my parents and their ‘nanas’ were like mothers and helped us. Looking back, it was a great decision. My daughter is a professional and Luis Fernando is where he is. We sacrificed for the family and it paid off.”

Patino’s family ties are as strong his right arm. Earlier this summer, he returned to Colombia to watch his sister graduate from medical school. On the last day of June, the pitcher’s parents flew from Lake Elsinore back to Colombia as originally scheduled. They still made it to Cleveland in time to watch him throw at the Futures Game less than a week later.

“Cleveland was one of the best experiences we have ever had as a family,” Zulma said. “There are no words to describe it. We were so happy to be able to share it with him.”

Patino struck out three batters, including Angels top prospect Jo Adell on a 98.2 mph fastball, in 1 2/3 innings in the Futures Game. He later added Geaney’s number to his contact list to avoid any future surprises and just in case he gets “the call” one day.

“I want to get to the big leagues and I’m preparing for that,” Patino said. “My goal is to stay healthy. Maybe I can be there in 2020. I know I have learned a lot and I still have a lot to learn.”