Kevin Towers Quotes on Education (2 Quotes)

It's a tremendous program. I've been here for 11 years and we've seen some of the youngsters who have come through the program and graduated college. It's very successful. It's kind of neat to see kids at this age, in the eighth grade, ready to embark into their high school years and be able to feel that the Padres have had something to do with it, which can lead to very long and successful careers.

It may not be so easy in the future. Robert Manfred, baseball's executive vice president for labor relations and human resources, says baseball will suspend and fine repeat minor league offenders this season. The Padres have administered their own three-strikes-and-you're-out steroid policy for the past five years, though they do not test in the off-season, either. The word's out in our organization, but the trend we're seeing is that most of the players who tested positive were in Class A ball, ... That tells me the problem is spreading fast. I think it's prevalent in college and high school--even before we get them.