Padres’ Salas Making Rare Move To Low-A

Image credit: Ethan Salas (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)

If he plays on Tuesday or Wednesday, Padres catcher Ethan Salas will have achieved a feat whose precedents are few and far between. 

Those are the last days before Salas’ birthday, meaning he has two chances to play in a Low-A game as a 16-year-old. The last player to accomplish that feat was Dodgers lefthander Julio Urias, who pitched most of his age-16 season for Low-A Great Lakes.

Even if he doesn’t, Salas is in great company as a player who will hit Low-A for his age-17 season without a day in the Arizona or Florida Complex leagues. 

Just this year, the Angels jumped outfielder Nelson Rada over the ACL and straight to Low-A Inland Empire. Through Monday, he’s hitting .241/.379/.284. The Braves also turned that trick with righthander Didier Fuentes, who is in the rotation at Low-A Augusta, where he’s gone 0-3, 6.95 with 24 strikeouts and 10 walks in 22 innings through eight appearances (six starts). 

The aggressive promotion of Salas—who also skipped the DSL and whose first and only official professional game before his Low-A debut came in last year’s Venezuelan Winter League—is a loud signal of just how polished he is at such a young age. 

It is also a product of the contracted minor leagues. In the structure that existed in 2019, the Padres might have jumped Salas to a half-season league like the Northwest League, where their short-season Tri-City team (now High-A Angels) operated from mid June through September. 

Talented prospects like Wander Franco, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Francisco Alvarez each spent their age-17 seasons in the Appalachian League, which, along with the Rookie-level Pioneer and short-season New York-Penn leagues, were removed from the ranks of affiliated ball in the minor league reshuffling that occurred during the lost 2020 season. 

Thirty years ago, another talented prospect spent a vast portion of his age-17 season in Low-A. That would be Edgar Renteria, the Marlins’ shortstop who spent 43 games in the Gulf Coast League in 1992 before jumping to Kane County of the Midwest League a year later. In doing so, he skipped over short-season Elmira of the New York-Penn League.

Renteria hit just .203/.268/.232 that season, when he ranked No. 51 on Baseball America’s Top 100 list. Four years later, he played in October, delivering the winning hit in Game 7 of the Marlins’ first World Series win. 

Salas opened eyes in his first spring training as a professional—just months after signing his initial pro contract—for his rare combination of tools and polish on both sides of the ball. They gave him a taste of big league spring training and had him catch bullpens for members of their rotation. 

They also hit him in the No. 2 hole in a spring training lineup stacked with some of the best prospects in their system and watched as he tripled off of established big leaguers like George Kirby and slammed extra-base hits against outstanding minor league prospects like Mariners righty Bryan Woo.  

The Padres responded by skipping him over the DSL and allowing him to remain in Arizona for extended spring training.

Now, they’ve made another aggressive move by jumping him to the California League just a week before the Rookie-level ACL was slated to begin play. Though the jump is over fewer levels, the signal is clear: The Padres believe Salas is up to the challenge and has a very bright future.