Padres’ two – As the Padres look toward the next Trade Deadline and the farm system’s next stretch, Single-A Lake Elsinore has become a quiet proof point: lefty Kruz Schoolcraft and righty Bryan Balzer are already Top 30, while Winyer Chourio’s dominance has pushed him towa
For a farm system, timing can be everything. The Padres have been searching for the right blend of prospects—those who can help internally, and those who arrive just before the Deadline resets everything.
This year, two “pop-up” arms at Single-A Lake Elsinore have forced attention back onto the pitcher pipeline. The pitching staff already includes lefty Kruz Schoolcraft (No. 2) and righty Bryan Balzer (No. 28) in the Top 30. Now, with 2026 still unfolding, right-handers Winyer Chourio and Jesus A. Castro look positioned to climb into the same conversation.
Chourio—who signed for $10,000 out of Venezuela in May 2024—will be promoted to High-A Fort Wayne this week. It’s a jump that feels earned, not rushed. Entering Monday, his 74 strikeouts in 51 2/3 innings were tied for fifth most at the Minors’ lowest full-season level in 2026. His 34.6 percent K rate ranked third among the 56 arms with at least 50 innings at Single-A. When the pool expands to all of the Minors and the innings minimum is kept. he’s tied for seventh among 341 in strikeout efficiency.
The names above him make the jump feel less like a fluke and more like a trend. Of the six pitchers over him in strikeout efficiency, three are Top 100 prospects: Seth Hernandez (41.9), Kade Anderson (41.1), and Karson Milbrandt (35.1).
On the scoreboard, the results have held up across starts and workload building. The 22-year-old owns a 3.31 ERA in his 12 appearances (11 starts) in the California League. He also reached a personal endurance marker twice in quick succession: he completed six innings for the first time stateside in his career on June 9. then did it again one week later in his most recent start. His 51 2/3 innings already sit just 3 2/3 shy of his career high of 55 1/3 set last season.
The stuff is part of why the numbers travel so well. Chourio works with a 92-94 mph four-seamer that has touched 98 mph this summer, showing good ride. The 6-foot-2 right-hander has more than seven feet of extension. allowing him to get the heater “right on top of hitters. ” making him tough to square up—especially against young and inexperienced Single-A bats. He backs it with an upper-70s curveball with enough drop and sweep to generate a 58 percent whiff rate in the Cal League. per Synergy.
He also mixes in an upper-80s changeup that breaks as much armside as the curveball breaks to the gloveside, averaging 11-12 inches. That has mattered against left-handed hitters: he has limited them to a .197/.315/.368 line.
Walk rates have stayed steady between 2026 (11.7) and 2025 (11.6). What changed—what pushed his season forward—has been the increase in swing-and-miss through the first three months.
Castro’s story is different, but no less striking.
Where Chourio is rising fast through a clear career arc. Castro is doing it while still being barely old enough to drink at most ballparks in the country. He just turned 19 on June 8. and his results in full-season ball already resemble the profile of a pitcher who’s not merely surviving the level—he’s mapping it.
Castro is also a $10,000 signee, this time out of Mexico in January 2025. After last year’s Dominican Summer League run—where he posted a 2.91 ERA. 0.92 WHIP. and 46 strikeouts in 43 1/3 innings—he skipped over the Arizona Complex League completely. He didn’t just arrive at Lake Elsinore; he exceeded the workload he’d built there too. eclipsing his prior innings with 48 frames.
The lines aren’t far off from the D.R. numbers. In 2026 for Lake Elsinore, he has a 3.00 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, and 56 strikeouts. His 26.8 K% is only a minor drop from his 27.1 mark back in the Dominican Summer League.
The age context pushes the profile from “promising” into “rare.” There have been only nine Single-A pitchers who are age 19 or younger and have thrown more than 40 innings at the level this season. Among those nine, Castro has the third-lowest ERA. He trails only Top 100 prospect Kendry Chourio’s 1.88 and the Pirates’ Reinold Navarro (2.01). He also owns the second-best K-BB% with 18.7, behind Jagger Beck’s 21.6 in the Astros’ system.
Watching the pitches helps explain why the batters can’t quite find the right response. At 5-foot-11. Castro uses a short arm motion and a low three-quarters release to throw an absolute bowling ball of a 91-93 mph. high-spin fastball. The pitch can average 18-19 inches of armside run and generates a ton of ground balls. His 53.1 percent ground-ball rate is the second-lowest in the Padres’ system (min. 40 IP). He’s also allowed only one home run in 209 batters faced so far in 2026.
His changeup sits 79-81 mph. giving him significant velo separation from the fastball while dropping more and running a little less. He throws it about one-third of the time to lefties, per Synergy. Against them, his splits look especially sharp: lefties have just a .145/.259/.246 line against the Storm starter.
The righty completes his repertoire with an upper-70s breaking ball with a ton of sweep. But unlike his other two pitches, it doesn’t show up in strike frequency as consistently. The early results still draw attention. even with that quirk: Castro’s early dominance of lefties has been eyebrow-raising. even as the glove-side movement seems to leave him still figuring out how to use the pitch more to his advantage against same-side bats.
Together. Chourio and Castro have become the kind of developments teams build around—especially when budgets and roster needs are pulling attention toward what’s next. For $20. 000 in bonuses combined. the Padres have found a pair of arms that have added intrigue to their core of low-level pitching. They are exactly the type of development wins an organization needs to keep the farm system competitive—both ahead of the Trade Deadline and for the long-term future. too.
Padres Lake Elsinore Winyer Chourio Jesus A. Castro Kruz Schoolcraft Bryan Balzer High-A Fort Wayne farm system Single-A pitchers prospect rankings