Padres first-rounder Ryan Weathers is his father's son

In the days after he heard his name announced by MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, after he was fêted by family members and friends, after a lifelong dream materialized on a television screen outside his home in Loretto, Tenn., Ryan Weathers received an education.

Four weeks cannot compare with three years at Vanderbilt University, an opportunity Weathers passed on to accept a $5,226,500 signing bonus from the Padres. But for the expectant fans of a franchise forever gesturing toward the future, one month felt like an eternity. Why did it take Weathers, the seventh overall selection in June’s MLB draft, so long to travel down the path that had been laid before him?

On Monday, after a press conference at Petco Park, the left-hander’s father offered a glimpse of what had transpired since June 4. David Weathers had listened intently as his 18-year-old son fielded questions from the assembled media. He came away impressed.

“The business side of this is the tough side,” said David, who pitched for nine teams across 19 major-league seasons. “He knew the baseball side; now you have to understand how all of this plays out, how it works, the intricate parts of a negotiation and stuff like that. There were a lot of things in the balance here to try to teach your son. We all know it’s a great game to play, but it’s also a big business. So he learned all those things. But it’s just refreshing. He was very patient, and he handled it really well.”

Time To Get Started #LetsGoPadres pic.twitter.com/dRxGeJOAen

— Ryan Weathers (@RyanDWeathers25) July 2, 2018

Later Monday, Ryan was aboard a flight headed to Phoenix. The Arizona Rookie League will serve as his first stop as he embarks on his professional career. The Padres will not discount the possibility that he could advance to the Midwest League before the end of the summer.

Weathers has immersed himself in baseball environments for most of his life. Those familiar with his progression believe he could find his way back to Petco within three years.

“He’s very advanced for his age,” Padres general manager A.J. Preller said. “He’s a guy we feel like has a chance to move through the system fairly quickly. We’re going to challenge him; we’re going to push him. But I think he’s going to push a lot of players in our system as well.”

Weathers’ competition now includes a slew of similarly gifted pitchers, including fellow left-hander and Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year honoree MacKenzie Gore, the third pick in the 2017 draft.

Like Gore, Weathers toyed with amateur-level hitters. As a senior at Loretto (Tenn.) High, he threw 76 innings, yielded only one earned run and struck out 148. In a state championship game five weeks ago, he all but sealed the Padres’ decision to draft him, maintaining his velocity throughout nine shutout innings.

Unlike most other prospects, Weathers can lean on the experience of six seasons in close quarters with major-leaguers. He began accompanying his father to work in 2004, when David pitched for the Mets at Shea Stadium. The elder Weathers subsequently became a fixture in the Reds’ bullpen before retiring after 2009.

“It was every day,” David said. “If we had 81 home games, 75 of them I brought him to the ballpark. His mother (Kelli) has her teaching certificate. We homeschooled him until the season was over, so he got to go as much as he wanted.”

Ryan spent afternoons at Great American Ball Park launching non-regulation home runs from the outfield as David patiently tossed him baseballs. But he also took in batting-cage clinics put on by Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips, sat next to Reds coaches during games and witnessed the countless hours the sport requires of its top players. His father’s job afforded him an unfiltered view.

“Nothing’s given in this game,” Ryan said. “There’s a lot of ups and downs, there’s a lot of adversity that comes with this game, and he showed me how to get through that.”

Years later, his maturity is evident.

Last fall, he and his father sat on a couch watching Dodgers lefty Alex Wood work through Game 4 of the World Series. During the bottom of the sixth, David voiced his belief that Wood should throw a 3-1 slider to Astros outfielder George Springer. Ryan countered that Springer was looking for a slider; a fastball would be preferable. One pitch later, Springer ended Wood’s no-hit bid by crushing a slider over the left-field wall.

“Dad just walked to his room. He didn’t talk to me for, like, the rest of the night because he was mad at me,” Ryan recalled, laughing. “It was a lot of fun.”

“It took me until I was 27 to have the mental makeup that he has,” said David, who now smiles at the memory. “I’ve always preached to him, ‘You’ve got to absolutely let your mind for the game and your confidence and your convictions be above your talent.’ Those will be the separators. And he’s sold out to that.”

Not long after Monday’s gathering at Petco, David and his wife, Kelli, were scheduled to return to Tennessee. The oldest of their two daughters, Karly, will play in an AAU basketball tournament this week. Her brother, meanwhile, was headed to Arizona.

“I’m just proud of him,” David said. “This is his day. He’s his own man. To me, the biggest part of this day is I know the work starts today.”

(Top photo: Andy Hayt/San Diego Padres)