In early May, the San Diego Padres played a series against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Monterrey, Mexico. While the Padres were in Mexico, manager Andy Green fielded a question from the media about one of the Mexico natives in the San Diego organization, TinCaps outfielder Tirso Ornelas.

With the 18-year-old Ornelas several years from the majors and not on any Top 100 prospects lists, one might have expected Green to simply give some general thoughts on the Tijuana native. Instead, he got specific.

“In my estimation, (Ornelas) is one of our top outfield prospects,” Green told FriarWire. “He's got power, but he also has plate discipline. He walked at a 17 percent clip in the minor leagues last year in his first year of (pro) baseball.”

A major-league manager knowing almost the exact walk rate – Ornelas walked at a 16.8 percent clip last season – of a player in rookie ball is telling. The outfielder has clearly made an impression in the Padres' organization and his play with the TinCaps this season, especially in recent weeks, has made Green's positive assessment seem prescient.

Ornelas hit the TinCaps' first home run of the season in the team's second game and has been a threat in the middle of the order ever since. Hitting mostly out of the No. 3 spot, he's tied for the team lead with five homers, and he's scored 32 runs, second behind only leadoff hitter Jeisson Rosario.

In the last few weeks, the left-handed swinger has been arguably the hottest hitter in the Fort Wayne order. Since May 24, Ornelas has hit a blistering .341 and slugged .659. Just as impressively, he's walked exactly as often as he's struck out (six times) in that span.

“He's been ready to hit the fastball early in the count,” TinCaps manager Anthony Contreras said. “We've been emphasizing not missing your pitch when you get it, and he's done a good job transferring his cage work and his (batting practice) to the game.

“When the preparation is on point and your work ethic is good, it usually transfers over and when you mix that with the talent that he is, good things can happen.”

Ornelas' talent has been obvious since the beginning of the season. He's put up solid numbers despite being the second-youngest player in the league, and he puts on powerful displays almost every day in batting practice, whacking balls over the fence in all directions.

Scouts began taking notice of his rare combination of power and athleticism last year when he was holding his own in rookie ball as 17-year-old, and he might end up on some Top 100 prospect lists in the near future. Fangraphs recently released its list of top Padres prospects, ranking Ornelas No. 11.

“Ornelas doesn't project to have elite raw power, but he'll get to whatever power he does have because of how often he squares the ball up, and he should do enough damage to profile in (left field or right field),” Fangraphs prospect expert Eric Longenhagens wrote. “He's more likely to succeed than any of the other Padres prospects at Fort Wayne because he's the most advanced hitter.”

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Ornelas had three multihit games on the TinCaps' six-game road trip, and his hot streak shows no sign of waning as Fort Wayne returns to Parkview Field for a series against the Lansing Lugnuts.

As the season enters its middle stages, Contreras still sees room for the outfielder to improve.

“He has a very good swing, middle, pull-side, so a lot of these teams are kind of pitching him away,” Contreras said. “So if he can learn to use the whole field and drive the ball the other way, that will round him out as a hitter. But the way he goes about his business at a young age right now is very impressive.”

dsinn@jg.net