Padres give — and receive — during community tour – elcajon newson Elcajon News only

Kids don’t care who has or hasn’t been signed this offseason. They don’t realize team owners even exist.

A room full of them — 300 kindergartners through fifth-graders, seated cross-legged on the floor of the auditorium at Rolando Park Elementary School on Friday afternoon — actually seemed most thrilled to see a giant caricature of a man dressed in a Friar outfit.

There were no baseball questions, no queries about payroll.

“How do you demonstrate kindness with your teammates?” a fifth-grader asked of the six Padres players seated on the stage near the end of a half-hour assembly.

“Saying hi … starting a conversation,” relief pitcher Sean Reynolds answered.

“Do something nice,” Jackson Merrill said. “It doesn’t have to be anything huge.”

“I love speaking positivity,” Michael King said before looking to his right at pitcher Matt Waldron. “Like when Matt gets his beard trimmed and I tell him he looks better than he did the day before.”

When a fourth-grader asked how the players show kindness to themselves, Waldron answered quickly: “Discipline is the highest form of self-love you can have.”

Luis Campusano’s advice was, “See the good in everything.”

The appearance at the school was part of the Padres’ annual community tour, an afternoon of visits to schools, fire stations, Police Plaza, Naval Base San Diego and other spots around the county. A couple dozen players, coaches and staff participated, split up into four groups that visited three venues each.

The group at Rolando Park also included prospect Ethan Salas, manager Mike Shildt and Padres CEO Eric Greupner.

The visit was a surprise to the children, revealed by principal Olivia Noriega just minutes before the players arrived. The assembly was, Noriega explained, the culmination of the campus’ weeklong emphasis on “practicing kindness.”

The players leaned in with advice on being good teammates, believing in yourself and surrounding yourself with caring people.

“Be yourselves,” Merrill told the group at one point. “Don’t change for anybody.”

The players were smiling throughout.

“I love being a part of these events,” said King, who earlier in the day signed a contract that will pay him at least $7.75 million in 2025. “That was really cool, coming in to that ovation, and ‘Let’s Go Padres’ chant. And I’m super impressed by them, because when I was that age, I’m not giving attention to anything for that long, and I felt like every time I looked into the crowd, they were staring right back at me, listening. So it was really cute. It’s fun to see it.”

Said Merrill: “It brings me back to when I was in elementary school, and there were guest speakers. I actually don’t remember a lot of them, because I was an arrogant little kid. But at the same time, in that moment, you feel strong towards them. You feel like you should follow what they’re saying. So what we can do for them, that’s as big as anything.”

The children let out an earnest and sustained “Noooo” when Noriega announced the assembly was drawing to a close. A moment later, they gasped a long “Oooohhh” when Padres vice president Tom Seidler announced there was a Padres cap awaiting all of them back in their classrooms.

Then it was on to the San Diego Zoo to see the panda exhibit, feed an anteater and pose for photos before finishing their tour with a stop at the UC San Diego Hillcrest Medical Center, where they signed autographs and posed for photos with about 300 healthcare workers.

“We started this tradition a few years ago, where we really wanted to get out into the community the day before FanFest, with as many of our players as possible,” Greupner said. “It’s really to really go out and just say thank you to our fans, and in particular, pay a visit to some of our youngest fans, and in particular in underserved communities and schools that are located in underserved neighborhoods, and just really encourage them, love on them, and tell them how important they are to us, that they matter.

“… And these players — to a player — are incredible about giving of their time in the offseason to come do this. And I think we would all agree we get more out of it than we give to anybody on a day like today.”