They are a couple of freshly minted millionaires who left Cuba as teenagers, in the United States a combined 19 days, at the white-hot core of the Padres’ full-circle future.

Adrian Morejon and Jorge Ona represent much of the money behind the mayhem of a seismic organizational shift.

Twenty-one of the Padres’ top 30 prospects, according to Baseball America, began to arrive at the team’s spring training complex Tuesday for the start of the instructional league.

1 / 17 Cuban signee Jorge Ona, second from left, received instruction from outfield instructor Tony Tarasco. ( / Jeff Sanders (Union-Tribune)) 2 / 17 Cuban signee Jorge Ona, right, speaks with Ryley Westman, coordinator of instruction, on the first day of the Padres’ 2016 Instructional League. ( / Jeff ) 3 / 17 Cuban left-hander Adrian Morejon throws a bullpen on the first day of instructs in Peoria, Ariz. ( / Jeff Sanders (Union-Tribune)) 4 / 17 Left-hander Eric Lauer, right, warms up on a backfield as Trevor Hoffman looks on. ( / Jeff Sanders (Union-Tribune)) 5 / 17 Fort Wayne Manager Anthony Contreras, left, works with Carlos Belen (No. 5), Brad Zunica and Josh Naylor. ( / Jeff Sanders (Union-Tribune)) 6 / 17 The eighth overall selection in the 2016 draft, right-hander Cal Quantrill, left, talks with Pitching Coordinator Mark Prior in the bullpen. ( / Jeff Sanders (Union-Tribune)) 7 / 17 Cal Quantrill, left, and Walker Weickel prepare to throw a bullpen. ( / Jeff Sanders (Union-Tribune)) 8 / 17 Top Padres pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza (81) walks onto the field with pitchers Henry Henry and Enyel De Los Santos. ( / Jeff Sanders (Union-Tribune)) 9 / 17 General Manager A.J. Preller, right, and Ben Sestanovich, assistant director of player development, overlook drills during the Padres’ first day of instructional league. ( / Jeff Sanders (Union-Tribune)) 10 / 17 Fort Wayne Manager Anthony Contreras hits to first baseman Brad Zunica. ( / Jeff Sanders (Union-Tribune)) 11 / 17 Injured outfielder Jabari Blash, left, visits with instructors Skip Schumaker and Damion Easley, far right, on a back field. ( / Jeff Sanders (Union-Tribune)) 12 / 17 Pitching Coordinator Mark Prior and prospect Anderson Espinoza head to the bullpen on the first day of instructs. ( / Jeff Sanders (Union-Tribune)) 13 / 17 Pitching prospects Walker Weickel (32) and Anderson Espinoza (forefront) throw bullpens on the first day of instructs. ( / Jeff Sanders (Union-Tribune)) 14 / 17 Pitching prospect Walker Weickel throws a bullpen. ( / Jeff Sanders (Union-Tribune)) 15 / 17 Pitching Coordinator Mark Prior, left, and first-rounder Cal Quantrill discuss mechanics during his bullpen. ( / Jeff Sanders (Union-Tribune)) 16 / 17 On the mound, Ryley Westman, coordinator of instruction, addresses a group of infielders and outfielders on the first day of instructs. ( / Jeff Sanders (Union-Tribune)) 17 / 17 General Manager A.J. Preller has seen expenditures on amateur talent this year approach $80 million. ( / Jeff Sanders (Union-Tribune))


Morejon and Ona, in their first U.S. interviews, weighed the expectations hoisted upon them as part of plan that injected 66 newcomers into the organization, dating back to and including the 2015 amateur draft.

Ona waited more than six months to be cleared by MLB, finally opening the door for the Padres to pounce.

“It was pretty tough for me,” said Ona (pronounced OH-nya), through a translator. “It was difficult to sit back and see other Cuban players be approved, be declared free agents and start to see them signing. I’ll be honest, I was a little frustrated to sit and wait on the process.

“Once it happened, I was very relieved and excited.”


2016 Padres Instructional League begins

The Padres began shedding veteran payroll and gobbling up prospects in an unprecedented summer spree, blow-torching their allotted bonus pool in the international market as they rang up more than $66 million worth of international player acquisition and counting.

Morejon, a coveted left-handed pitcher, locked down an $11 million signing bonus — believed to be the fourth largest for pool-eligible players in MLB history.

Ona, a corner outfield who hit a head-shaking .636 during the 18-and-under Pan American Championship in 2014, signed for $7 million.


Baseball’s 100 percent, proceed-with-caution penalty for overspending doubles those numbers, meaning the suddenly freewheeling Friars invested $36 million in two jerseys alone.

Where much is spent, much is expected.

“Up to this point, I haven’t really felt any pressure,” Morejon said through a translator. “But being here and being around so many other guys at or above my talent level, it’s kind of worrisome. I really just want to keep working hard to compete with these guys.”

General Manager A.J. Preller measures the two in more than cold cash.


Morejon struck out 12, walked one and was named MVP during Cuba’s 15-and-under World Cup gold-medal win against the previously unbeaten U.S. in 2014. Ona hit four home runs in eight games at the Pan American Championship, with eight walks.

For Morejon (pronounced mo-RAY-hone), the beyond-his-years mound poise, a knuckle-changeup and fastball that already flirts with 95 made him MLB.com’s No. 2 international prospect. And the body type of Ona, at 6-foot-1, reminds one scout of hitters with power, “but aren’t that 6-4 guy” — like “an in-shape Kevin Mitchell” or Ron Gant.

“Impressive, from Minute 1,” said Preller, recalling his first impressions of the two. “You don’t have to be a super scout to see it.”

The Padres grew bold about Cuba, they say, because of the talent of the players, the island’s slowly thawing political relationship with the United States that aided signings and a gamble on the timing of baseball’s labor agreement.


Teams that exceed their bonus pool are prohibited from spending more than $300,000 on any single player during the next two signing periods. The Padres can continue to spend, and continue to be penalized, until June 15.

The Collective Bargaining Agreement being negotiated now, however, has the potential to change the rules before the Padres find themselves financially handcuffed — meaning organizational fingers will be crossed that they turned over the piggy bank at just the right time.

It’s a long shot, to be sure. But who knows?

“We view it as kind of a perfect storm,” Preller said.


Ona and Morejon seemed understandably measured and careful, tip-toeing through the details of how they made it from Cuba to a scorching corner metropolitan Phoenix.

Morejon, 17, said the most difficult part required leaving part of his family behind. He provided an example of the tangled route players follow to leave the communist nation and connect with the financial game-changer that is American baseball.

To get to the United States, Morejon, his parents and a brother flew from Cuba to Ecuador. Then to Haiti. Then to the Dominican Republic. Then, eventually, to the United States.

Ona politely declined to expand on his Padres-based journey.


“I’d rather not talk about that and focus on baseball because of the things that one goes through in that process,” he said. “Just leaving behind your family and the unknown, basically.”

Ona, though, said the complexity and complications of going from Cuba’s Point A to the MLB’s Point B creates a unique fuel.

“It definitely motivates you,” he said.

When asked whether there’s enough organizational will and wallet to keep targeting international signings, Preller nodded.


“Yeah, for sure,” he said.

Wait a bit, though, before lighting up one of those Cuban cigars.

On Twitter: @Bryce_A_Miller