Padres sign Taiwanese right-hander, add him to 2025 international amateur class

The Padres’ first move of the offseason will flesh out the club’s current crop of international amateurs.

Taiwanese right-hander Lan-Hong Su has signed with the Padres for $750,000, perhaps the last significant addition before the 2025 international amateur window closes on Dec. 15. Su was in San Diego this week, meeting with Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller and pitcher Yu Darvish, among others.

The year began with the Padres essentially saving their $6.26 million international pool to woo right-handed pitcher Roki Sasaki. When he ultimately signed with the Dodgers, the Padres pivoted, signing shortstops Jhoan De La Cruz ($1 million) and Deivid Coronil ($900K) and left-handed pitcher Carlos Alvarez ($1 million), among others.

Su, 18, served as the closer for bronze medal-winning Chinese Taipei in September’s 18U Baseball World Cup in Okinawa, Japan. In that tournament, he went 2-0 with a 2.46 ERA, a .192 opponent average and a 14-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 7⅓ innings.

He profiles as a starting pitcher with a 90-94 mph riding fastball, a sharp 80-83 mph slider and some feel for a split changeup. He’s also got some room to grow into a 6-foot-2, 155-pound frame.

“We’re excited to add Su to the organization and look forward to helping him achieve his dream of becoming a Major League pitcher,” Chris Kemp, Padres vice president of amateur and international scouting, said in a news release. “Scouting him over the years has been a team effort, but recent looks from Po-Hsuan Keng, Trevor Schumm and Dave Post cemented our beliefs on Su as both a pitcher and teammate.”

Su turned down an opportunity to be a first-round pick in July’s Chinese Professional Baseball League draft so he could attend college and sign with a big-league organization.

He didn’t have to actually attend school to get the Padres interested.

“I chose to join the Padres because I was impressed by the team’s environment, competitive history and development system,” Su said in a statement. “Throughout the recruiting process, I really felt that the Padres valued me and believed in my potential.”

Su is the first Taiwanese player to sign with the Padres since 2016, when Wen-Hua Sung joined the club’s ballyhooed international class. Sung, who signed for $675,000, reached Triple-A El Paso in 2022 before he was released.

Su likely sits just inside the top seven to 15 prospects in an organization that dealt quite a bit of young talent at the trade deadline for the likes of Mason Miller, Ramón Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn.

Su has been compared to Mexican right-hander Humberto Cruz, who signed for $750,000 in February 2024. Cruz finished the 2025 season at Low-A Lake Elsinore.