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Ethan Salas has been the Crown Jewel of the San Diego Padres minor league system since he was signed as an international free agent out of Venezuela in 2023. At the time, Salas was just 16 years old and has essentially grown up in the San Diego system.
Since his signing, Salas has been considered a future star at the MLB level due to his impressive skills on defense and his better than average offense. He has been lauded for his maturity and his ability to work with the Padres pitching staff in Spring Training. There was some thought that Salas could possibly make his MLB debut while still a teenager, but that hope was squashed when he missed all but five games last season with a back injury.
Salas is now 20 years old and is back on track to stardom. He was recently called up from Double-A to Triple-A and since arriving in El Paso with the Chihuahuas he has appeared in 14 games. In that time, Salas has made 53 plate appearances and has logged 20 hits with six doubles, a triple and three home runs. He has also scored 10 runs and driven in 20 runs. Salas has also walked nine times and has one stolen base. He is currently hitting .377 and looks to have adjusted well after moving up a level.
Salas has played well on defense although he has allowed some passed balls, but he made up for those by throwing runners out as well. He is not perfect, and maybe not considered polished, but he has proven he can handle himself at the plate, which was always the question that came up when he was talked about. The best part is, if Salas IS called up to the majors, he will have Freddy Fermin who is a defense-first catcher to help him adjust behind the plate and Luis Campusano, who is an offense-first catcher, to help him in the batter’s box.
The young prospect has been the future for San Diego and with the team pushing to make the playoffs a spark from a young, hungry, talented prospect may be what they need to finish the sprint to the end of the season with a playoff berth. Do you think the Padres should make the call and bring Salas to the majors? That is the question for this week’s Gaslamp Reacts Survey from Gaslamp Ball. Results will be posted later in the week.
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