PADRES READY FOR SIGNING WINDOW

Team eyes two more international players for its prospect list

As the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world and he took on a leading role at the Padres’ alternate site at USD, Chris Kemp swapped his home base from an apartment in the Dominican Republic for one in the Gaslamp Quarter. It’s a cozy place, one in which he’d spend more time if he wasn’t crisscrossing the globe as he oversees all facets of the club’s amateur scouting operation.

The 2022 international signing window opening Saturday has certainly crowded his itinerary.

“You could go from the Carolinas with Jake Koenig to down in Georgia with Tyler Stubblefield,” Kemp said by phone from the Dominican Republic, referring to a pair of Padres area scouts. “Then you’re jumping across to the Bahamas to see (a prospect) and that could lead us into a Venezuelan showcase in Colombia and then meeting up with (Dominican coordinator) Alvin Duran to see a Cuban showcase in the Dominican and then maybe you’re shooting over to the University of Miami or Oklahoma for a pro day.

“It’s a worldwide, all-encompassing job right now.”

Not that Kemp’s plate wasn’t already full pulling double duty as both the Padres’ minor league field coordinator and the international scouting director.

But an end-of-season restructuring saw President of Baseball Operations A.J. Preller pull Kemp out of domestic player development so he could oversee both the international amateur market, with the help of international supervisor Trevor Schumm and others, as well as the amateur draft (amateur scouting director Mark Conner has since transitioned to a special assistant role).

While Kemp’s roots are in amateur scouting, the international market has been Kemp’s bread and butter since Preller brought him aboard as he jumped from the Rangers’ front office to lead the Padres.

Under Preller, the international staff ’s successes include unearthing Luis Patiño for $130,000 during the $80-plus-million spending spree on the 2016-17 class, signing rising prospect Euribiel Angeles for $300,000 while under penalty in 2018 and adding Victor Acosta, Samuel Zavala and Daniel Montesino last winter to