The backbone of a successful major league franchise, no matter how wealthy, is the talent it procures and cultivates through its own devices, a fact borne out once again this October.

Through the first three games of the World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros had combined for 25 runs. Homegrown hitters have played a part in 15 of those scores. The most dominant pitching performance belonged to Los Angeles’ Clayton Kershaw, probably the best No. 7 draft pick in history.

The Astros, who captured their first-ever World Series victory in Game 2, reached this apex after a committed rebuilding process, one the Padres are attempting to approximate.

The Dodgers, for all their resources and blockbuster acquisitions, would not be here, in their first Fall Classic since 1988, without the contributions of a former scouting director.


Logan White oversaw the Dodgers’ draft from 2002 through 2014. In those years, Los Angeles selected, among others, Kershaw, Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger and Joc Pederson. White was instrumental or involved in the signings of Yasiel Puig and Kenley Jansen. All six players have appeared in an All-Star Game. All six have taken starring turns this postseason.

“You’re obviously excited for the players that you’re involved in and the people that you care about,” said White, now a senior advisor to Padres General Manager A.J. Preller and San Diego’s director of player personnel. “But the people that I’m most happy for are the scouts and the coaches who were involved in these players. Myself and other people, we get credit a lot of times. I’m just happy for those guys because they’re the ones who beat the bushes, made the hard drives and did a lot of great work so we could make good decisions.”

White proceeded to list the names of a dozen scouts and crosscheckers who had key roles in drafting and signing the aforementioned players. White, for instance, had been prepared to pick Bellinger in the second round. Area scout Dustin Yount informed White that other teams were overlooking the skinny high schooler. The Dodgers wound up taking Bellinger in the fourth round, and in 2017, he broke the National League rookie home-run record.

“A lot of people don’t understand why you need scouts,” White said. “I’m a big believer in using numbers and analytics, too, but you can’t do it solely on that. … I’m very proud of the players we’ve gotten, but I’m as proud of the staff that got the players.”


White, who joined the Padres three years ago, believes San Diego eventually will churn out formidable young talent of its own.

“It’s not just me being political: I think our farm system, where we’re at right now, is deeper than any time I was in L.A.,” said White, who, logging long hours on the road, evaluates players at all levels for the Padres. “It takes all of your departments doing well and putting guys in the system. You look at our system — it’s as strong as any system I’ve been around or seen already, and I think it’s going to get even better after next year’s draft.”

A proper rebuild requires untold patience, but Padres officials believe their scouting and development efforts will begin bearing fruit sooner than later. The crown jewel of the system is Fernando Tatis Jr., a shortstop projected to arrive at Petco Park by 2019, if not earlier. Tatis, 18, has drawn comparisons to Seager and Astros counterpart Carlos Correa, both of whom homered Wednesday.

(White had Seager No. 1 on his 2012 draft board, ahead of Correa. Seager slid to the Dodgers at No. 18 largely because other teams questioned whether he would stay at shortstop or hit for real power.)


“He’s got a chance to be, really, a franchise-type player,” White said of Tatis. “...You look at a lot of superstars like (Mike) Trout — they got to the big leagues pretty quick. And I think that’s going to be our biggest challenge. I think (Tatis) is going to press the envelope before we’re ready for him to be up here.

“It’s a deep system, very deep. And that’s the fun part. That’s what was fun for me in L.A., and that’s what’s fun for me here, is to have been a part of this. What’s going on in San Diego right now is crazy exciting.”

To reach their potential, however, the Padres will have to go through the Dodgers, who, partly thanks to White, might not budge from atop the division anytime soon. Seager is only 23, Bellinger just 22.

“I was certainly proud to have been a Dodger for those years and proud for the players that we drafted, but I’m a Padre, man,” White said. “There’s going to be no love lost once it comes time for us to match up head to head. Yeah, I still have a lot of respect for those players and still have somewhat close ties to them. It’s been fun for me to watch and obviously I’m going to root for them. But trust me, after this (series), I’m not going to be rooting for them anymore.”


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