There is a good argument that Ethan Salas‘s 2026 campaign was more important to the Padres than any prospect’s performance was to any organization. Coming off a concerning stress fracture in his back and more than two years removed from his last burst of offensive success, uncertainty around Salas abounded.
With no other position player in the organization owning a reasonable projection to hold down a starting job in the big leagues, the Padres needed a huge year from the backstop who, at 19, was entering his fourth professional season. The organization expressed abundant confidence in the catcher, but one could have been forgiven for wondering how well-placed that confidence was.
Ethan Salas announced himself in the 2026 Spring Breakout game. (Photo: Jerry Espinoza)
Even before official games began, Salas began to make the confidence look prescient. Salas only briefly slowed down all year as he put together a .296/.374/.448 line across 405 plate appearances in the upper minors before a well-earned promotion to the big league roster in September. Pair that with elite skills at the most important defensive spot on the field, and Salas was an easy call as the 2026 Padres minor league player of the year.
While some uninformed people suggested Salas might be best served opening the year back in Fort Wayne, the Padres never flinched on having him head straight to San Antonio, where he was still the second-youngest player on the circuit to start the season. He went 3-for-19 with eight strikeouts through the first week, causing some angst outside the organization. But Salas and the Padres never flinched.
By the end of the month, he was hitting .308 and by late May, his slugging percentage was over .500. There was a little hiccup in June when he had just seven singles in 42 at-bats before hitting the IL with an oblique injury. Once again, he bounced back quickly, hitting .321 over 16 games wrapped around a trip to the All-Star Futures Game in July, which convinced the organization he was ready for a promotion to El Paso.
Salas didn’t miss a beat, putting together a .326/.410/.539 line in the offense-friendly Pacific Coast League to force his way to the big league club when rosters expanded in September.
As impressive as the surface-level results were, Salas had elite process numbers. He swung and missed less often than all but two other Triple-A batters while hitting the ball hard at well above-average levels. By avoiding chasing out of the zone, he not only drew plenty of walks, but ensured that he could make hard contact consistently.
Salas heads into the offseason as one of the early favorites for the 2027 rookie of the year and, heading into his age 21 season, undoubtedly one of the top prospects in the game. Even the optimists in the Padres’ front office couldn’t have hoped for more at the start of the year.
