Editing Dave Winfield (section)

===Draft and San Diego Padres (1973–1980)===
[[File:Dave Winfield - San Diego Padres.jpg|thumb|Winfield with the [[San Diego Padres]], {{c.|1977}}]]
Winfield chose baseball; the [[San Diego Padres]] selected him in the first round, with the fourth overall selection, of the [[1973 Major League Baseball draft|1973 MLB draft]]. Winfield signed with the Padres, who promoted him directly to the major leagues. Although he was a pitcher, the Padres wanted his powerful bat in the lineup and put him in right field, where he could still use his powerful arm. He [[batting average (baseball)|batted]] .277 in 56 games his first season.

Over the next several years, he developed into an All-Star player in San Diego, gradually increasing his ability to hit for both power and average. In 1977, he appeared in his first All-Star game at [[Yankee Stadium (1923)|Yankee Stadium]]. In 1978, he was named Padres team captain and in {{baseball year|1979}}, he batted .308 with 34 home runs and 118 [[runs batted in|RBI]]. He played one more season with the Padres before becoming a free agent.