Ethan Salas gets start against Giants

The 352-foot triple to right at Oracle would have been a homer in five ballparks. It was his first hit in 16 at-bats since he was called up Sept. 1, but he didn’t get a chance to follow it up; the Padres had Freddy Fermin hit for him in the sixth.

Salas, who is 20 years old, is now officially the youngest player in MLB and, when the game begins today, will be the youngest player to appear at catcher in a game since Iván Rodríguez did back in October of 1991. There’s a pathway to playing time here for Salas if he can adapt quickly to MLB pitching.

This move was reported last night and is now official. Salas hit .296/.374/.448 with 10 homers and 17 steals between Double- and Triple-A this year. That came with an impressive 5.4 percent swinging strike rate, and, in 24 games at Triple-A, he posted a 95 percent zone contact rate and 42 percent hard-hit rate. It’s incredibly impressive for a hitter at his age to control the strike zone and have the feel for contact that he does. MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell reports that, while there is no set role for Salas right now, he is “expected to catch, DH and serve as a bench bat.” That makes it sound like the left-handed-hitting Salas could start a few games a week with the chance to earn more playing time if he produces.

Salas wouldn’t be called up unless he was going to play, so expect him to do a lot of the catching over Freddy Fermin. Luis Campusano could function as more of a DH with Gavin Sheets and Luis Rengifo on the IL. Salas, still just 20 years old, has shaken off a couple of injury-filled seasons to hit .296/.374/.448 with 10 homers and 17 steals between Double- and Triple-A this year. He probably won’t be of use in one-catcher mixed leagues right away.

Salas is hitting .377/.453/.698 with three homers and 20 RBI in 14 games since moving up to El Paso at the end of last month. It’s hard to imagine the Padres introducing him to the majors in the middle of a pennant race, but he’s back looking very much like one of the game’s best prospects.

Salas was one of the top overall prospects in baseball a couple of years ago, but he had a rough last few seasons in the minors. Still, he remains just 20 years old, and his previous rankings were probably aggressive. This season, in 71 games at Double-A, Salas hit .285/.359/.418 with seven home runs, 37 RBI, and 14 steals. He had just a six percent swinging strike rate and a tremendous 87 percent contact rate overall. Now we’ll see if he can do that one step away from the big leagues.

Salas, 19, has been out since May with a stress reaction in his lower back. The high-level prospect was hoping to return during the AFL, but the Padres will give him some more time to heal. Salas still has big-time upside, and while he’s struggled over the last two years, there’s plenty of time for him to develop into a strong catching option. Stay patient.

Salas was originally expected back this month, but he hasn’t healed as quickly as hoped. Considered one of the game’s very best prospects after an excellent showing as a 17-year-old in 2023, Salas struggled offensively last year and played in just 10 games this season before getting hurt. Still, as disappointing as the lost season is, he has time on his side; he just turned 19 on June 1.

Padres general manager A.J. Preller told reporters on Monday that the back issue won’t impact his long-term development. The 18-year-old is one of the top catching prospects in baseball, but he doesn’t project to make much of a fantasy impact once he reaches the big leagues.

The highly-touted 18-year-old backstop looked like he fit right in on the big league field on Sunday as he laced an RBI double (103.5 mph EV) off of Giovanny Gallegos to open the scoring in the second inning. He then raced around to score on an RBI single off the bat of Forrest Wall. Salas is extremely unlikely to break through to the big leagues in 2025, but the future behind the plate looks unbelievably bright in San Diego.