Ethan Salas’ breakout changed the Padres’ catching picture in a hurry, and it may have put Luis Campusano squarely on the trade market.
Salas did more than pop up during San Diego’s postseason run. He forced the organization to rethink how it wants to handle the position going forward.
He is not locked into the starting catcher job for 2027, despite the way his late-season rise might suggest otherwise. A.J.
Preller has already said the Padres will treat the spot as a real competition, and with only 40 regular-season plate appearances on Salas’ ledger, the club isn’t about to dismiss the need for depth.
That’s where the roster math gets tricky. San Diego is carrying four catchers on the 40-man roster, and with expensive needs elsewhere, it can’t afford to keep using spots without a bigger payoff.
Campusano looks like the clearest candidate to turn that surplus into something useful. In 2026, he hit .265/.363/.433 with eight home runs in 248 plate appearances.
He also started answering some of the defensive questions that had lingered around him in previous seasons. The year finished on a rough note, but that doesn’t wipe out the production or the remaining team control that could make him appealing to another club.
He’s not just a spare part. He could actually bring back something.
Salas, meanwhile, changed the conversation with the way he finished. After beginning 0-for-15, he went on to slash .400/.423/.720 over his final 26 regular-season plate appearances. Then he became the youngest catcher to appear in a postseason game and handled half of San Diego’s playoff starts behind the plate.
The Padres clearly trusted him when the games mattered most. They put him behind the plate with veteran pitchers and even kept him in the lineup for an elimination game. That kind of usage says plenty about how they view his future, and it gives him a real shot to stick in the majors when 2027 arrives.
Freddy Fermin gives them another layer of protection. His .589 OPS with San Diego stands out for the wrong reasons, but his defensive value matters. For a young catcher, having an experienced, glove-first partner can go a long way, especially with a rotation that still carries plenty of questions.
Rodolfo Durán is there as inexpensive organizational depth. That leaves Campusano as the catcher with the best blend of offense, affordability and trade appeal.
San Diego could keep all three and use Campusano for extra at-bats at DH, the way it did as a short-term postseason safeguard. Over a full season, though, that setup would crowd the bench and make the playing-time puzzle harder to solve. Campusano is also too good to just drift between catcher, DH and the bench without a clear role.
If Preller called catcher a “position of strength,” that has to mean something practical. Depth is useful. Strength is what can help shape the rest of the roster.
And the Padres have bigger issues to sort out. Their starting rotation is unsettled, first base needs attention, and they’re already absorbing salary jumps for Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill.
Campusano and Fermin are both projected to have modest arbitration salaries, so money alone won’t force San Diego’s hand. The real question is whether keeping four catchers is the smartest use of roster space and value.
It probably isn’t.
Campusano should draw interest from teams looking for an affordable catcher with some offensive upside. The Padres could use him to help address rotation depth, chase a controllable arm or fold him into a larger deal. Salas’ arrival doesn’t mean Campusano has to go, but it does give San Diego the freedom to listen.
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