Ethan Salas is currently the Padres’ top-ranked prospect in their farm system. This coming season is a critical point in his professional career.

Catcher Ethan Salas is currently the No. 33-ranked prospect in all of baseball and the fourth-ranked catcher. Certainly, that is an impressive pedigree to begin your professional career, as he is still just 18 years old.

The problem is he is heading in the wrong direction. Last season, he was No. 8 in all of baseball and the top-catching prospect in the game.

What happened?

Before diving into that, let’s be fair. Salas is just 18. He played in High-A Fort Wayne in 2024, where most players are between 20 and 23 years old. In fact, he was the youngest player in the Midwest League last season.

Still, we cannot overlook how badly Salas struggled in 2024 with the TinCaps. It’s hard to diagnose with numbers from High-A, his defense behind the plate. He gets rave reviews with his glove and management of the pitching staff. According to FanGraphs, he did commit nine errors at catcher in 2024. He posted a 27.7 percent caught-stealing rate. For reference, that would’ve ranked fifth in MLB this season.

At the plate is where some of the finest polish of him as a prospect may have worn off a tad from last season. He batted .206 with just four homers and a .599 OPS in 111 games. His 75 wRC+ suggests he was well below league average.

Again, it’s fair to say he was playing above his weight class, so to speak, given he is still a teenager.

Ethan Salas throws out Adrian Pinto trying to steal second base. pic.twitter.com/A4ibovjADH

— Chase Ford (@_chaseford) November 7, 2024

The Padres have been aggressive in Salas’ development since signing him as a 16-year-old in 2023. Perhaps too aggressive. He even got 33 plate appearances in Double-A in 2023, at barely 17 years old.

We need to put everything into perspective regarding Salas’s age. For example, Roman Anthony of the Red Sox is the current top prospect in all of baseball (outside of Roki Sasaki). He is going to be 21 years old this coming season. He is over two years older than Salas and yet is still a blue-chip prospect yet to make his MLB debut. The second overall pick, Dylan Crews from 2023, is about to be 23 years old and four years older than Salas.

Still, given how aggressive the Padres have been in getting Salas through the system, 2025 seems like a big year. He struggled mightily in High-A Fort Wayne last year. He likely won’t make his MLB debut this season. At least one more full season in the minors is needed, perhaps at Double-A.

Salas needs to show some level of improvement at the plate. Indeed, he is still very young compared to his peers. However, the Padres’ catching situation is growing dire, with Luis Campusano struggling and the Padres signing aging veterans to short-term deals (Elias Diaz and Martin Maldonado). 2026 may be the year Salas needs to be ready for The Show. First, he must show that he is growing as a player at the plate. Even if the gains are somewhat marginal, there at least need to be signs.

With over 666 career minor league at-bats, he is batting .222 with a .657 OPS.

Salas has been invited to big league camp for a second straight year as a non-roster invitee. He got one at-bat in a big league Spring Training game last year.

It’s likely safe to assume he will get a bit more MLB-level action in spring. Fans will get to see Salas in a Padres uniform take at-bats in Peoria.

While it’s not fair to say Salas better be one of the best hitters in the entire Texas League in Double-A (again, assuming he starts there and not in High-A), it is fair to want some level of improvement.

He is still a top-35 prospect in baseball for a reason. The tools and talent are all there. There needs to be evidence of growth in 2025, manifesting as a better year.

His defensive prowess, along with his maturity in handling the pitching staff, still deserves praise. The organization emphasizes his high level of maturity despite being the age at which some are graduating high school.

This season, he either will bounce back and reestablish himself as a top-tier prospect in all of baseball, or the questions and concerns will grow on whether or not he’s truly deserving of such high expectations.

2025 is a big year for the young backstop.

Nick Lee

Native of Escondido, CA. Lived in San Diego area for 20 years. Padres fan since childhood (mid-90s). I have been writing since 2014. I currently live near Seattle, WA and am married to a Seattle sports girl. I wore #19 on my high school baseball team for Tony Gwynn. I am a stats and sports history nerd. I attended BYU on the Idaho campus. I also love Star Wars.