The San Diego Padres have closed the book on right-handed pitcher Luis Patiño, a name that once carried as much excitement as any pitching prospect in baseball. Once billed as a future ace, Patiño’s career has instead become a sobering reminder of just how fragile pitching talent can be.
San Diego signed Patiño out of Colombia in 2016 as a hard-throwing teenager with raw stuff and high potential. By 2019, he had blossomed into one of MLB Pipeline’s top-30 overall prospects, drawing comparisons to frontline starters with his electric fastball-slider mix. Padres fans dreamed of him joining the rotation as the next homegrown star.