Padres call up catching phenom Salas
James Schiano analyzes the San Diego Padres' decision to call up their number one prospect Ethan Salas, stating his fantasy value "is only intriguing in deeper two-catcher formats."
Video Transcript
The Padres have promoted 20-year-old catching phenom Ethan Salas, and he's in the lineup to make his Major League debut on Wednesday afternoon.
The organization's number one overall prospect, Salas made waves in 2023, where just after signing with the Padres at 16 years old, he began his career instantly in A-ball, and played well there with an 840 OPS across nearly 50 games.
Then closed that season with nine games each in high A and double A, despite only just turning 17.
At that point, he was sneaking into the top 10 of all major prospects lists, and considered, again, some kind of phenomenal catching phenom here.
But his momentum did slow a bit the following season when he barely hit 200 across a full season at high A, and then injuries cost him most of 2025, where he only played 10 games.
But he came back with a vengeance this season.
He had seven home runs, 14 stolen bases, and nearly 800 OPS in 70 games at double A, while still only turning 20 years old in June.
Then he was more impressive after being sent up to triple A a few weeks ago, with a 326, 410, 539 slash line in 24 games, with quality underlying stats, like an 80th percentile hard hit rate, 98th percentile zone contact rate, and great swing decisions on the whole, fueled mostly by a passive approach.
There weren't top-end exit velocities, though, and Salas really did struggle to lift the ball.
So think about his current offensive profile jumping into the major leagues as something more like a less polished version of Yandy Daz from a few years ago, before he underwent this massive offensive transformation.
But Salas will most likely make a big impact as a defender early in his big league career, where he's lauded as an outstanding catcher, great thrower, great receiver, great blocker.
But he could be a little bit inexperienced with the ABS system, since they didn't have it at double A, and he only caught 17 games of triple A.
Also, he'll be the youngest catcher to start a game since Pudge Rodriguez, again, still at just 20 years old, and his first start on Wednesday.
Luis Campusano shifted to designated hitter with Freddy Fermn on the bench.
The playing time muddle between those three players might still only make Salas intriguing in deeper two-catcher formats, though.
