17-year-old De Vries swats his first pro homer
Kenny Van Doren
@thevandalorianIt took 36 games, but Leodalis De Vries connected on his first professional home run at age 17.
MLB¡¯s No. 78 prospect received an aggressive assignment to Single-A Lake Elsinore after signing with the Padres in January as the top-ranked international free agent. He racked up a four-RBI performance in his first month, but on Tuesday, the switch-hitting shortstop flipped the power switch on en route to a 3-1 win over Rancho Cucamonga.
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In the bottom of the seventh inning, De Vries moved to the right-handed batter's box to face southpaw Felix Cabrera (Dodgers) after hitting left-handed in his previous three plate appearances. With a 2-0 count and a runner on first base, De Vries turned quickly on a high fastball, rocketing it out to left field. He had the distance, but he watched it fly all the way as it clanked off the left-field foul pole at The Diamond.
"I knew it was gone as soon as it left his bat," Storm manager Lukas Ray said. "A two-run, go-ahead homer from 'El Mutante' (The Mutant) in the late innings off of a reliever ¡ it's so impressive. That's why you coach. That's so much fun."
As De Vries trotted down the first-base line, he exuberantly gestured to his dugout, excited to finally check off the milestone as well as putting the Storm in the lead.
"It's a unique feeling," De Vries said through interpreter Oswaldo Pirela, Lake Elsinore's bench coach. "I feel so glad at this moment that everybody has supported me, and I've been working hard with the team and all the staff to get to this point."
The Padres' No. 4 prospect went 1-for-3, also reaching base when he was plunked for the fifth time this season. He upped his slash line to .197/.320/.324 as he eclipsed 140 at-bats.
"You could look at the stat line and get lost in the stat line," Ray said. "But if you come to the games and you watch him in person, you know he's the best player on the field every night. And if you come to our pregame, you know how hard he works, how much he¡¯s getting better."
As the youngest player in full-season affiliated baseball, De Vries credited the staff for the offensive and defensive improvements he's made through his first three months at Single-A and added there¡¯s still more that needs to be done.
Luckily for De Vries, Ray also oversaw top Padres prospect Ethan Salas during extended spring training in 2023.
"Tremendously," the skipper said of De Vries' maturity since he started working with him. "It's mind-blowing, it's so impressive that our scouting department got two talented players like Ethan and Leo, and what they can do for how young they are is absolutely amazing. All you can do is just watch, and it¡¯s an honor to just be a part of the journey that they are going to be on because you just know they are going to play this game for a really long time. And they grow every day while showing you why they are who they are."