Drew Cumberland

The San Diego Padres are a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise based in San Diego, California. The Padres currently compete in the National League (NL) West division. Since the institution of MLB's Rule 4 Draft, the Padres have selected 73 players in the first round. Officially known as the "First-Year Player Draft", the Rule 4 Draft is MLB's primary mechanism for assigning players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur clubs to its franchises. The draft order is determined based on the previous season's standings, with the team possessing the worst record receiving the first pick. In addition, teams which lost free agents in the previous off-season may be awarded compensatory or supplementary picks. The First-Year Player Draft is unrelated to the 1968 expansion draft in which the Padres initially filled their roster.

Of the 73 players picked in the first round by San Diego, 32 have been pitchers, the most of any position; 20 of these were right-handed, while 12 were left-handed. Fourteen outfielders were selected, while ten shortstops, seven catchers, five third basemen, and four first basemen were taken as well. The team has also drafted one player at second base. Eleven of the players came from high schools or universities in the state of California, and Florida and Georgia follow with ten and six players, respectively.

None of the Padres' first-round picks have won a World Series championship with the team. None of these picks have won the MLB Rookie of the Year award, although Khalil Greene (2002) placed second in the voting in 2004. Dave Winfield (1973) is the only first-round pick of the Padres in the Baseball Hall of Fame, inducted in 2001 as an outfielder. Drafted as a pitcher, Winfield was named to 12 All-Star teams, won 7 Gold Gloves and 6 Silver Sluggers, and finished as high as third in MVP award voting (in 1979) over the course of his 22-season career.

The Padres have made 21 selections in the supplemental round of the draft. They have also made the first overall selection five times (1970, 1972, 1974, 1988, and 2004), tied for the most such picks with the New York Mets. They have also had 24 compensatory picks since the institution of the First-Year Player Draft in 1965. These additional picks are provided when a team loses a particularly valuable free agent in the previous off-season, or, more recently, if a team fails to sign a draft pick from the previous year. The Padres have failed to sign two of their first-round picks, Karsten Whitson (2010) and Brett Austin (2011), and received the 10th pick in 2011 and 55th pick in 2012 as compensation.