Here's an article about Wil Myers, because of what might be

People don't think about the San Diego Padres that much. It's not without good reason, they've only been to the playoffs five times, twice making and losing in the World Series. They play in a lovely stadium in a lovely town that has many things going for it, so baseball falls by the wayside.

You'd think the sports fans there would commit to the Padres with the Chargers jerking them around and evidently leaving. But that's neither here nor there. The Padres do a good job of playing the "anonymous competition" role in baseball, being one of those teams that marquee names like the San Francisco Giants of Los Angeles Dodgers need on their schedule. They seem to be constantly trapped in a cycle of not being good enough and rebuilding. They're on that second part after a brief foray into the first by acquiring Craig Kimbrel, Matt Kemp and Wil Myers. That all fell apart, and most of the players general manager Josh Byrnes went after are gone. Myers is still there, though, and one has to, or at least might wonder what the future holds for Myers and the Padres.

The history of San Diego baseball is not that rich, though it has its moments. Their greatest player is without a doubt Tony Gwynn, one of the greatest hitters in history and worth 68 career rWAR. After him though, the second most valuable player in team history is Dave Winfield at 31 WAR, then a bunch of guys in the mid-20's. Outside of Gwynn the most famous Padre ever is Trevor Hoffman. It's not a terrible thing that a closer is one of the legends of a team. Mariano Rivera has carved his way into Yankees history. But there was nothing else going for San Diego for most of Hoffman's career. He was a dominant player on very mediocre teams, and stuck only able to affect such small amounts of the game. All this is to say, if he wanted to and if everything breaks right, Myers could find himself a major figure in Padres lore.

He won't surpass Gwynn, simply because Gwynn is a folk hero for San Diego and, again, simply one of the best ever at hitting. His numbers against guys like Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz are stuff of legend. He loved the town enough to stick around after his career and coach at San Diego State University. Anyway, it's rude to even presume a player of Myers' caliber (pretty good) could have such a career. It places absurd expectations on him. But he is, in fact, a pretty good player. In 2016, his age 25 season, Myers was a fine hitter. He logged a 113 OPS+, hit 28 home runs in a division with some of the most home run-suppressing parks in baseball (and Coors Field) and demonstrated a decent ability to take a walk. He was worth 3.8 WAR, which was eighth in all of baseball among first basemen. He's a good player. More than that, he lets you dream of what he could become.

I"m willing to bet there are people who just assume Myers is generally what he is, and won't go much further. I refute that, if only because I hope for the best out of people, and anyway, he’s 25. Plenty of players have experienced mid- to late 20’s spikes. Look no further than the Indains with Michael Brantley and Corey Kluber. That’s how careers go. Myers has been placed on a team that is starting fresh with a smart general manager who, one would assume, wants to win at some point. Byrnes tried the winning thing early on, going all in with whatever assets he had and winning the offseason two years ago. The Padres were terrible. So he dumped those guys and hit the reset button. But by holding on to Myers, Byrnes at the least sees a useful piece, and perhaps a cornerstone.

In real baseball terms, the biggest problem with Myers seems to be his contact rate. Ever since his rookie year the expectation was a lot of swing and miss, some walks and a bunch of power. The problem is, the walks haven't been at an Adam Dunn/Carlos Santana level. If he could get that kind of eye, he'd be purely elite. He has demonstrated a growing selectivity, dropping his swing rate from 45% his rookie year to just north of 40% this past season. He's also making a good deal more contact, 80.3% in 2016 compared to 76.3% last year. That's driven by being able to get wood on balls out of the zone better (67.7% in 2016 versus 55.9% in 2015), despite swinging less in general. Even by the eye test, you can tell there's untapped potential there. He's a big, rangy kid who could certainly meat up and hit 35-40. He's also improved his line drive rate every year, up to 21% of batted balls, a career high. In PetCo, AT&T and Dodger Stadium, that can really help when the fly balls aren’t flying far enough. Especially when the Marine Layer moves its way into San Diego, and the ball starts dying instead of flying.

Look, there's no reason for me to write an article about Wil Myers. He's a very decent player on a team people forget about, and probably won't be a contender for the near future. But he could be something. There's talent there. There's power, there's growing patience, and there's the ability to hit the ball a long, long way. At the end of the day, we're all just fans of  good baseball. Myers is still young and hits the ball hard, everywhere. Maybe he won't be anything more than alright, or maybe he'll be the next great Padre we all think of when we think of the Brown and Yellow, or whatever their colors are at the moment. For as much as we track baseball and analyze and understand the game, things can happen unexpectedly. A player of Myers' ability could make that leap in 2017, and become a true cornerstone. He's the kind of player that draws us to watch the game, to follow prospects, to get excited about a rookie and deal with sophomore swoons. He’s the type of player that causes us to think up crazy trades that look like such steals. I expect the best out of Wil Myers. Or at least a couple hundred bombs.

Oh, and because this is an Indians blog, maybe the Tribe could trade Danny Salazar for him. That’d be neat. You’re welcome, editors.[Editor's note: Not cool]