Ethan Salas, a promising 17-year-old catching prospect, has been promoted by the San Diego Padres to Double-A, according to Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Salas was recently promoted to High-A on August 9, just after celebrating his 17th birthday on June 1. In the nine games he played at the High-A level, Salas had a batting average of .200 with no home runs, along with more strikeouts than walks in 37 plate appearances. Before his promotion, Salas had a solid performance in Low-A, with a batting average of .267, nine home runs, and 35 RBI in 220 trips to the plate.
Despite his mixed results, the Padres believe Salas is ready for the challenge of playing at the Double-A level, which is considered a significant milestone for prospects.
According to FanGraphs, Salas will be the youngest player to appear in a Double-A game this season. Currently, there are five players in their age-19 seasons who have had at least one plate appearance in Double-A: Junior Caminero of the Tampa Bay Rays, Jackson Holliday of the Baltimore Orioles, Jackson Chourio of the Milwaukee Brewers, and Yamal Encarnacion and Hector Nieves of the Houston Astros.
“Part of the way we’ve done it with the Padres,” said assistant farm director Mike Daly to Sanders earlier this month, “is we want to push the gifted.”
Salas signed with the Padres in January for $5.6 million and has been given numerous opportunities to develop, including participating in big-league spring training games as a 16-year-old. Scouts have been impressed with Salas’ skills both defensively as a catcher and offensively, with some believing he has the potential to be an above-average contributor from the left side of the plate.
It’s worth noting that Salas’ brother, Jose, is also a professional baseball player in the Minnesota Twins organization.
