The San Diego Padres will call up top catching prospect Ethan Salas when rosters expand Tuesday, a team source told The Athletic on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the move.Salas, 20, should soon become the youngest player to catch a big-league game since Ivan Rodriguez debuted with the Texas Rangers in 1991. Salas has hit .326/.410/.539 in 24 games since being promoted to Triple-A El Paso.With Luis Rengifo and Gavin Sheets on the injured list, the Padres believe Salas’ left-handed bat and advanced defense can aid their pursuit of a playoff berth. San Diego leads Arizona by a half-game in the race for the National League’s final wild-card spot. The team’s lefty hitters have combined for a .677 OPS, lowest in the majors.Salas, whom The Athletic’s Keith Law ranks as baseball’s No. 11 prospect, is expected to spell Luis Campusano and Freddy Fermin behind the plate. Carrying three catchers should also give the Padres increased flexibility off the bench and at designated hitter.
“Hypothetically, he’s a left-handed bat, so you could play him against right-handed pitching,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said earlier this month. “And we feel comfortable with him behind the plate defensively against anybody. He proved that in the last couple spring trainings.”Salas has been considered the club’s catcher of the future since the Padres signed him for $5.6 million in 2023. Raised in Florida and Venezuela, Salas has the ceiling of a Gold Glove backstop with rare offensive talent. When he made his organizational debut three years ago, team officials predicted he would arrive in the big leagues before he turned 19.His development, however, has been far from linear. After Salas impressed in Low A, the Padres rushed him to High A and then Double A before the end of the 2023 season. Salas struggled offensively throughout 2024, missed almost all of 2025 because of a stress reaction in his back and plummeted on prospect lists as a result.Then, he soared back up the rankings. Salas hit .286/.361/.417 in 72 games this season with Double-A San Antonio, earning a late-July promotion to El Paso. He recently caught rehab starts by Padres right-handers Joe Musgrove and Nick Pivetta, accelerating an already-unusual learning curve; Salas caught a Venezuelan Winter League game as a 16-year-old, made his Cactus League debut months later and has spent time in San Diego’s big-league camp each of the past three springs.Now, Salas could be weeks from his big-league postseason debut. Any player who is on the 40-man roster by Sept. 1 is eligible for the playoffs. The Padres believe Salas will help them get there.
