El Paso Chihuahuas (Split series with Las Vegas Aviators)
Nick Solak mashed for El Paso this week. (Photo: Jorge Salgado)
Players of the Week: Outfielder Nick Solak, 31, had a huge week, going 14-for-27 with a walk. Seven of the hits went for extra bases including two home runs, and he led the team with 10 RBI to become the second El Paso batter to earn Pacific Coast League Player of the Week Honors this year. Including his four games with the Padres this year, Solak has spent parts of seven years in the big leagues. On the year, he has an .884 OPS with 16 home runs in 465 plate appearances for El Paso. … In two appearances, Logan Gillaspie, 29, threw five scoreless innings and only allowed one hit while striking out five. The right-hander has appeared in 44 games for El Paso this year, 43 in relief, with a 5.90 ERA, and is fourth on the team with 79.1 innings pitched. The Bakersfield, California, native has been in the organization since 2024 and has made two appearances in San Diego over the past two years.
Top Prospects and Others of Note: Mason McCoy, 31, continued his strong season, posting a .423 batting average and a 1.044 OPS. He also stole three bases in three attempts to push his season total to 36, six shy of Tim Lopes‘ franchise record. Orange County native Nick Pratto, 27, had his best week since signing as a minor league free agent in June with a slash line of .435/.519/.635 with three doubles and a home run. He owns a .776 OPS in 60 games for El Paso after logging more than 1,500 at-bats in the International League over the last five years. … Carlos Rodriguez, 25, continued to get on base with a .444 clip, reaching base 12 times in six games. Rodriguez is first on the team and fourth in the PCL with 139 hits. Despite the big counting stats, his .809 OPS remains slightly below league average with a wRC+ of 98. … Will Wagner and Blake Hunt, both 27, saw limited action, but made the most of their opportunities. Hunt had six hits in 13 at-bats, including a home run, while Wagner came off the Temporarily Inactive List Thursday and was the hero on Sunday. Hunt was designated for assignment Monday to make room for Nick Pivetta on the 40-player roster. … Evan Fitterer, 26, appeared in two games with very different results. In the first, he went three innings and gave up four runs; in the finale, he threw four shutout innings. Fitterer has made 20 starts for El Paso this season and is third on the team in innings pitched. His 4.38 ERA is the second-lowest among starters with 10 or more starts, but his 61-to-58 strikeout-to-walk ratio is not pretty. … Right-hander Jose Leclerc appeared in three games and threw four shutout innings. Leclerc, 32, is a veteran of nine major league seasons and has a career 3.34 ERA in 369.1 innings. After a bumpy start as he returns from shoulder surgery, he seems to have settled in. (John Conniff)
Braedon Karpathios has been on a tear over the last five weeks. (Photo: Vashaun Newman)
San Antonio Missions (Split series vs Midland RockHounds)
Players of the Week: In the first two games of the series, Braedon Karpathios clubbed seven hits, including two home runs and nine RBI. That would be a great week for most players in the Texas League, but it was just the beginning for Karpathios, who finished the week 14-for-22 (.636) with three doubles, two home runs, 13 RBI, and two walks. His 1.712 OPS for the week earned him Texas League Player of the Week honors. Karpathios had more hits this week (14) than he did in the entire month of April (13-for-79). With one week left in the season, Karpathios has already set career highs with 17 home runs, 73 RBIs, and 120 hits. He has a .797 OPS, just three points shy of his career high. … With the ball flying out of Wolff Stadium, there weren’t many standout pitching performances, but Francis Peña struck out six over four scoreless innings. It has been an up-and-down season for the 25-year-old, but if he can continue this scoreless stretch through the final week, he will finish with a sub-3.00 ERA for the third time in four years (he had a 4.99 ERA last season in El Paso). Peña has struck out 27.6% of the batters he has faced, but continues to struggle with his command, walking 14.2%.
Top Prospects and Others of Note After finishing August with his best monthly OPS in more than a year, Albert Fabian continued to rack up extra-base hits for the Missions. Fabian finished August with a .844 OPS and started September with a .700 slugging percentage, thanks to five of his seven hits going for extra bases. The 24-year-old is already hitting a career-best .271 and has a career-best nine stolen bases. His .758 OPS this season puts him back in line with where his knee injury ended his 2024 season while he led the TinCaps in home runs and cost him the first three months of last year. … Tirso Ornelas also had more extra-base hits than singles on the week. The 26-year-old went 6-for-18 with three doubles and two home runs, finishing with a stellar 1.201 OPS. The 26-year-old is second on the team with 16 home runs. … Many other weeks, 10 hits over six games could lead the Missions, but not this week. Still, hitting .455 over a week is quite an accomplishment for Romeo Sanabria, who continues to feast on Double-A pitching. Sanabria added two doubles and two walks while posting a solid 1.045 OPS. Since being sent down a month ago, Sanabria has posted a .962 OPS. … After struggling in his first two starts back in Double-A, lefty Luis Gutierrez returned to form, tossing three scoreless innings, allowing three hits, walking none, and striking out four. Gutierrez led the Padres system with 125 innings last year while posting a 3.31 ERA, but he has battled injuries all year and has thrown just 29 innings with one week remaining. Gutierrez will probably head to the AFL build back up his innings, but his status as a pending minor league free agent adds complexity to that decision. (Ben Davey)
Fort Wayne TinCaps (Won at Lansing Lugnuts, 4-2)
Kerrington Cross making the play at third base. (Photo: Jeff Nycz)
Players of the week: Kerrington Cross ended his 2026 season on a high note, as the 24-year-old went 8-for-24 with five extra-base hits en route to posting a 1.073 OPS. The loudest contact of the week for the former Cincinnati Bearcat came on September 1 when Cross blasted a 437-foot home run over the wall in left-center. Over his final 27 games of the year with the TinCaps, Cross posted a slash line of .269/.382/.441 with three long-balls. Between two minor league levels in his first professional season, Cross posted a 137 wRC+ and .349 wOBA — numbers heavily aided by his first half showing in Lake Elsinore… In his final start of 2026, Winyer Chourio turned in his best start with the TinCaps, working five shutout innings, allowing three hits and four walks while punching out six. Over his final five outings of the year, the 22-year-old sported a 2.29 ERA and 10.9 K/9. Still, after an excellent start to the year at Lake Elsinore, the right-hander struggled at High-A, posting a 6.15 ERA, 6.01 xFIP and 16.5% walk rate.
Top Prospects and Others of Note: Carson Montgomery made two appearances this week. In his Tuesday start, the former Florida State righty allowed a run on two hits, walked two and struck out three. He came back Sunday with a clean one-inning cameo as he started on four days’ rest for the first time all year. After missing most of the last two seasons, the 24-year-old tossed 93 innings in 22 appearances for the TinCaps, pitching to a 4.65 ERA. Notably, over his final outings of the season, the right-hander has seen his velocity tick up closer to 94-96 mph after sitting 92-94 mph for much of the season. … Javier Chacon made two appearances, with the latter being the strongest as he punched out six in three shutout frames in Fort Wayne’s come-from-behind victory on Sunday. The righty has fought his command all year, issuing 40 free passes in 50 innings since reaching Fort Wayne in May, but he’s countered it with a 25.2% K% for the TinCaps. … The electric arm of Sean Barnett worked twice in the final series of the year and posted mixed results, allowing two runs in 3.1 IP. The right-hander had his ups and downs in his first full season as a pitcher. While he posted a 6.80 ERA and 5.64 FIP in 27.1 innings between two levels, his fastball did hit triple digits in 2026, and he owns an impressive 26.7% strikeout rate. … Rosman Verdugo capped his season with a strong week against Lansing pitching, posting a .867 OPS in six games. His biggest moment of the week was a grand slam on Sunday, helping to push his career-high count of home runs to 15. The 21-year-old cut his strikeout rate from nearly one-third of his plate appearances in 2025 to just over 25% this season. In his second full season with Fort Wayne, he posted a 91 wRC+, .339 wOBA, and .225 batting average. … Lamar King Jr. went 4-for-15 with one extra-base hit and three RBIs in his final week of the season. While he sported a .826 OPS and .314 batting average in his final 14 games of the year, 2026 was still a struggle for the 22-year-old backstop, who posted just a .313 wOBA and hit only four home runs. … Robbie Lavey played in just three games in Fort Wayne’s final series, going 3-for-13 with a pair of doubles. The 2026 fourth-round pick, who turned 21 just six days ago, hit .241 with a .733 OPS in his 16 games with the TinCaps. While the numbers weren’t eye-popping, Lavey did post some solid exit velocities in his short time at the Midwest League. (Clark Fahrenthold)
Lake Elsinore Storm (Beat Inland Empire, 4-1)
Jorge Quintana finished strong after a rough first full season. (Photo: Jerry Espinoza)
Players of the Week: The Storm broke out of a prolonged funk and won four of five against Inland Empire to complete their regular season. Sunday’s game was canceled due to wet grounds, so Lake Elsinore will finish the regular season at 66-65. Lake Elsinore begins a best-of-three playoff series on Tuesday against Ontario. … Jorge Quintana had a tremendous week at the plate, hitting .563/.611/1.000 with a double, two homers, and five RBI. In addition, he struck out just once in 18 plate appearances. The successful final week puts the finishing touches on Quintana’s first full season in the Padres organization. While he has shown flashes, Quintana’s offensive production was 21 percent below the league average. On a positive note, he hit a career-high nine homers and played in 103 games, looking solid from the left side of the plate. … Righty Jesus Castro put the finishing touches on a successful stateside debut season, tossing five strong innings Tuesday to earn the win. Castro tossed a career-high 90.1 innings for the Storm, pitching to a 4.18 ERA while producing a K/9 of nearly ten. The 19-year-old leapfrogged the complex league and, outside of a miserable August, pitched very well. He is lined up to start the Storm’s playoff game Tuesday in Ontario.
Top Prospects and Others of Note: Outfielder Qrey Lott had a nice week at the plate, connecting on a homer and two doubles to post an OPS of 1.472. Lott also stole a pair of bags. The 21-year-old is just one of several recent undrafted free agent outfielders who have found success in the organization. Lott started the year in extended spring training but made an impression after moving up early. Lott finished his first pro season with a wRC+ of 110 to go with eight homers in 95 games. … Seventh-rounder Joe Tiroly finished off his impressive pro debut with a 1.236 OPS and another homer on the week. The former Virginia infielder homered seven times in just 71 plate appearances and slugged .692 in the small sample. Tiroly primarily played second in college and possesses intriguing power for a player at the keystone. … Second-rounder Elliot Lascelles had another productive week at the plate, going 8-for-18 with three doubles, four RBIs, and three stolen bases. In 15 games with the Storm, Lascelles hit .321/.406/.429 while striking out in just 15% of his plate appearances. In addition, Jose Verdugo (1.145 OPS), Dawson Willis (.948 OPS), and Augie Lopez (.821 OPS) all had loud showings against Inland Empire. … Kruz Schoolcraft turned in a solid outing Friday in his final regular-season start of the season, allowing two earned runs on three hits over five innings. He walked three and struck out three. The young lefty made 22 starts this season, missing only one turn in the rotation. The results weren’t pretty, but Schoolcraft showed flashes while struggling to consistently throw strikes. Schoolcraft had a troubling BB/9 of 6.47 this season but averaged more than a strikeout per inning. (Kevin Charity)
Ethan Salas arrived at Petco Park on Frday. (Photo courtesy San Diego Padres)
Interviews and Features: We looked back at Ethan Salas’ rise through the system and were there for his Petco Park debut.
Last week we checked in with Jase Bowen to talk about where he is now, following an earlier conversation we had with him in El Paso. For our subscribers, we chatted with another Padres undrafted free agent success story and caught up with last year’s number one draft choice, Kruz Schoolcraft.
