The Padres are about one-third of the way through the season, and they have fought their way towards the top of the National League West despite lacking significant contributions from their stars.

It has been the role players who have really contributed this year, including Miguel Andujar, Ty France, and Randy Vasquez. With baseball season being notoriously long, the team will need more contributions from guys on the outside looking in right now. Here are three prospects down on the Padres farm that will look to make an impact for San Diego in 2026.

Jase Bowen

Bowen is a player highlighted already this season as a surprising spring training breakout. He has taken that early success and brought it with him to El Paso, where he has continued to mash. His .979 OPS is eighth, and his .623 SLG is second among all qualified outfielders in Triple-A. His ultra-aggressive approach has continued to pay off in the power department, and he is on pace to shatter his previous season high in home runs of 23, having already hit 11 in 39 games. The only outfielder with a better SLG at that level is Henry Bolte, who already received a call-up for the A’s. While Bowen came into the season as an unranked prospect in the Padres system, he is now up to 23, according to MLB Pipeline.   

Jase Bowen yesterday

Inside the park homer
RBI double
Single
Two walks

Let’s compare him versus Bryce Johnson. Both K at a high rate but Bowen has way more juice. BJ is a better base stealer as Bowen has been caught 4 times versus only 5 steals. BJ also is a better bunter.… pic.twitter.com/EFeTwEpguk

— Giannis Auntiegotapoodle (@TooMuchMortons_) May 20, 2026

His swing and miss issues may prevent him from being a full-time major league player for the time being, but the 25-year-old is doing everything else right. Bowen is not currently on the 40-man roster, but the Padres are not deep in the outfield. Alternative options include utility man Samad Taylor and long-tenured member of the Padres organization, Tirso Ornelas. Jackson Merrill came out of Wednesday’s game against the Dodgers with a back issue, so an MLB debut may be coming quite soon for the Padres youngster.

Miguel Mendez

Mendez is the third-ranked prospect in the Padres system and is the most MLB-ready starting pitcher. The right-hander has a nasty fastball-slider combo, with the former sitting around 97 MPH. He posted 11.18 strikeouts per nine innings and a 3.22 ERA last year across three levels of the minors despite really only throwing the two pitches. His changeup shows flashes of being a solid third pitch, but he clearly lacks trust in it. He has struggled with control for most of his career, but a career-best 11.2 percent walk rate in 2025 shows signs of improvement. 

His stuff is enough to contribute to the Padres staff today, but the command and limited repertoire leave a question as to where he would fit in. There are certainly MLB rosters who could plug in Mendez as a reliever today, but the Padres’ bullpen is not an easy one to crack. He will likely slide into the injury riddled roation if anything, but will need to earn his keep in San Antonio first. Mendez has had his share of early struggles, posting a 4.67 ERA in 17 ⅓ innings at Double-A. He has mustered 19 strikeouts in those six starts despite the high walk rate, so the Padres may be willing to take a chance on him nonetheless. 

Unlike the other two players on this list, Mendez is on the 40-man roster, giving him a leg up on most other prospects looking to break through. The Padres are still looking for rotation help as veterans like Griffin Canning, Walker Buehler, and Germán Márquez struggle early. The opportunity is there for Mendez to earn the call, but it will likely be a little later in the season with more success under his belt.

Ethan Salas

A hot topic in early-season prospect rankings, Ethan Salas has been tearing it up in San Antonio. The 19-year-old is still one of the youngest players in Double-A and has put the doubts about his bat to rest for now.  He is second in OPS and first in batting average among qualified catchers so far. He has posted a 136 weighted runs created plus, a .388 Weighted on-base average, and six home runs in 34 games. By just about any metric that’s tracked in the minors, Salas is thriving at the plate. He has added real power this year and has maintained the plate discipline that has stood out for his age. 

Salas’ glove behind the dish has never been a concern, and he only continues to impress there. Even when he entered the Padres system at 16, the reports out of the Padres organization suggested that he could easily manage a major league pitching staff back then, and that has not changed. His blocking and receiving are phenomenal, and his arm is adequate and improving. He also has surprising speed for a catcher, having already stolen nine bases this year. Ethan Salas has begun to show all five tools that made him the number one overall prospect in the 2023 international class. 

Ethan Salas barely misses two homers in the same AB. 112 mph and 108 mph off the bat. pic.twitter.com/nQAGOZOYV3

— Giannis Auntiegotapoodle (@TooMuchMortons_) May 19, 2026

General Manager A.J. Preller has been ultra-aggressive with the highly touted catcher, who has struggled with consistency at the plate. With an injury-riddled 2025 behind him, Salas is back on schedule (which is actually well ahead of schedule compared to most). Those injuries really called into question his early call-up, and he dropped down many prospect lists as a result. But if the bat continues to look like this, there is almost no cap to Salas’ ceiling as a catcher, and the league will quickly take notice. 

The Padres’ catching situation is bleak. Freddy Fermin has posted a brutal .437 OPS, and the inconsistent Luis Campusano is on the 10-day injured list. Rodolfo Durán has been a fun story, but his offensive limitations will likely lead him back to the minor leagues once Campusano returns. Despite his age, Ethan Salas may just step in and take the reins of the Padres catcher position. 

Preller has historically been willing to be aggressive with top prospect call-ups, notably calling up Jackson Merrill and Fernando Tatis Jr. before the legal drinking age. Salas would be the most impressive of the bunch because of his position, but the defensive skillset he has shown off early in his career is that of a 10-year veteran. If the Padres are in the playoff hunt down the stretch and Salas continues to impress, Padres fans should expect Preller to do what he does best- make a bold move to get the most talent on the field as possible. Ethan Salas could go from the future of the Padres catching position to the present sooner than expected.

Jacob Larose

Jacob grew up with Padres season tickets and walls plastered with Khalil Greene memorabilia. He has dedicated all of his young professional career towards becoming baseball’s next AJ Preller, having already worked with minor league and college teams in different roles. He is always scouring the Baseball Savant page to find the next little nugget that might help his hometown Padres (or his fantasy baseball team).