The Road to The Show™: Xavier Edwards

Each week, MiLB.com profiles an elite prospect by chronicling the steps he's taken to reach the brink of realizing his Major League dream. Here's a look at Tampa Bay Rays infielder Xavier Edwards. For more player journeys on The Road to The Show, click here.

The Padres and Rays are among the best and most volatile farm systems -- prospects always seem to be coming and going as the clubs wheel and deal while looking for an advantage. Xavier Edwards, MLB.com's No. 67 overall prospect, has experience with both organizations.

After playing his high school ball in Florida, Edwards was lured from a commitment to Vanderbilt when San Diego made him the 38th overall pick in the 2018 Draft and offered him a well-above-slot $2.6 million to sign. The switch-hitting shortstop immediately demonstrated his value that summer, splitting 45 games between the Padres' Arizona Rookie League affiliate and Tri-City in the Class A Short Season Northwest League. The 18-year-old hit .346/.453/.409 with 31 walks, 25 strikeouts and 22 stolen bases in 23 attempts.

Those stats point directly to Edwards' assets: avoiding strikeouts and getting on base, where he is an absolute terror. MLB Pipeline gives him a 70-grade run tool and 60-grade hit tool, perfect for a prototypical leadoff hitter. While his power and exit velocity are well below average, Edwards is likely to generate his share of extra-base hits using his line-drive approach to all fields and blazing speed.

Edwards ascended to full-season ball as a 19-year-old in 2019, beginning the year with Class A Fort Wayne, where the results were more of the same despite him being two years younger than the average Midwest League player. He hit .336/.392/.414 in 77 games before his promotion to the California League and was named a mid- and postseason league All-Star. The MWL batting title eventually went to Lansing's Otto Lopez, who hit .324.

At Class A Advanced Lake Elsinore, where he was 3 1/2 years younger than the average Cal League player, Edwards cooled off slightly but still hit .300, posting a .301/.349/.367 line in 46 games to wrap up the season. The stint with the Storm saw him lower his strikeout rate to a career-best 8.8 percent, and he finished his first full season tied for ninth in the Minors (400 PA min.) in swinging-strike rate, swinging and missing at just over 4 percent of the pitches he sees.

That performance earned him a nod as a Padres Organization All-Star and drew the attention of the Rays, who acquired him in the deal that sent Tommy Pham to San Diego in December 2019. Edwards' future in Tampa Bay is likely at second base, as the Rays feature top overall prospect Wander Franco at short. He projects as an above-average defender at second, which is probably a better fit for his average arm. Edwards will also have to battle Rays No. 4 prospect Vidal Brujan, another switch-hitting speedster, for playing time at second in the upper levels of the Minors. With such a bounty of middle-infield talent, it's conceivable the Rays could try Edwards in center at some point.

Rays senior vice president of baseball operations and general manager Erik Neander told the Tampa Bay Times that Edwards was a "potential long-term, building block, impact-type piece."

The lack of a 2020 Minor League season leaves every prospect's future cloudy, but none more so than that of Edwards, who has yet to play an official game in his new farm system. (He did join Tampa Bay's 60-man player pool at the club's alternate training site in August.) 2021 will be a big year for the now 21-year-old in the defending American League champion's organization.