After taking Stanford right-hander Cal Quantrill with the No. 8 pick in the MLB Draft, the Padres used their other two first-round selections on high school shortstop Hudson Sanchez and Kent State lefty Eric Lauer.

Sanchez was selected 24th overall, immediately followed by Lauer at No. 25.

Sanchez, out of Southlake Carroll (Tex.) High, is one of the youngest players in the draft class. The 17-year-old is listed at 6-foot-3 and has considerable power potential. He is considered unlikely to stick at short in professional baseball and could wind up moving to third base or a corner-outfield position.

“He’s a bat-speed combo guy that’s really hard to find,” Padres General Manager A.J. Preller said Thursday night.


Few draft projections had Sanchez going in the first round, though, as Padres scouting director Mark Conner noted, the teenager has a projectable frame and corresponding upside. The suggested value for the 24th pick is $2,191,200.

“I had contact with a lot of teams,” said Sanchez, who indicated he plans to forgo his commitment to Texas A&M. “Some teams showed more interest than others, but the Padres were definitely at the top of the list interest-wise. They kept in contact with me a lot, I went to their workout and performed pretty well and got comfortable with the staff. I didn’t know what to expect when they were picking, but I’m glad that it happened.

“I was expecting to go pretty high, but it’s still pretty crazy, I guess,” Sanchez said. “But I know I’m ready to play at this level. I’m just ready to start my career.”

Lauer, who turned 21 last week, boosted his stock with a strong junior season at Kent State and could move quickly through the minors.


“I’d like to get up there as fast as possible,” Lauer said. “I’d be happy wherever they put me. ... If they want to throw me right into the fire, I’d be fine with that.

“My goal is to be up and helping the big-league club by next year, if I can. I don’t have too in-depth of a timeline, but as soon as possible.”

The 6-3 southpaw led all of Division I with a 0.69 ERA, the lowest mark by a starting pitcher since Chris Rich had a 0.62 ERA for St. John’s in 1979.

“It wasn’t anything that I changed really about myself,” said Lauer, who threw a no-hitter last month to lead Kent State over Bowling Green for the Mid-American Conference title. “Control was a big thing and really getting back to simple mechanics and making sure I wasn’t trying to do too much to impress people. I think that was the key to unlocking the better command I had.”


Lauer’s fastball sits in the low 90s and is complemented by a slider, curveball and change-up. He projects as a mid-to-backend arm in a major league rotation. The 25th pick comes with a slot value of $2,159,900.

Lauer described himself as a “calculated power pitcher.

“I don’t blow up the radar gun with 98 and stuff like that, but the way I’m able to use my pitches and secondary pitches, it allows me to use my fastball as a power pitch,” he said. “The command of every pitch has to be there, and that’s what’s allowed my fastball to be a little better than it might be on a normal day.”

Conner had scouted the left-hander since Lauer was in high school.


“I saw him develop over the last five years as an underclassman to now,” Conner said. “He’s a left-handed pitcher with probably one of the best arm action-delivery combinations in the country, a very easy delivery.”