The Padres’ push for the final NL Wild Card spot got a little more interesting at the start of September, when San Diego brought up top prospect Ethan Salas.
That move comes with the club locked in a tight race with the Arizona Diamondbacks. As of Tuesday morning, San Diego was less than a game back of Arizona for the third and final Wild Card berth, so every small edge matters as the regular season winds down.
Salas is one of the most intriguing names in the organization, and The Athletic’s Grant Brisbee made the case that there’s real reason for optimism. Brisbee pointed to what the 20-year-old catcher did at Triple-A this season: "He hit an unambiguously smashing .326/.410/.539 in 105 plate appearances at Triple-A this season, though, with more walks than strikeouts," Brisbee wrote.
He followed that up with an even bigger dose of praise: "Those are exciting numbers for a 34-year-old journeyman catcher, much less a 20-year-old prospect. He's still younger than his peers, but he's about to be evaluated based on his production, not his age. The Padres are right to be excited."
Salas brings more than offense to the table. He’s considered a strong defensive catcher and can help in ways that go beyond what shows up in the batter’s box.
The early returns in the majors have been rough, though. Salas has opened his big league career 0-for-10 with four strikeouts and no walks. That’s not exactly shocking, considering the level of pitching he’s facing now.
Even so, evaluators have been high on Salas for a long time, and now he finally has the chance to prove it on the sport’s biggest stage.
If he can put together a few strong weeks, it would be a fun subplot for a Padres team trying to keep its postseason hopes alive.
In Other News...
Padres Are Already Feeling Ethan Salas Impact In One Tough Spot
The Padres kept reshaping their catching picture this week, designating Blake Hunt for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot after activating Nick Pivetta from the 60-day injured list. It was a harsh reminder of how crowded that part of the roster has become, even for a player like Hunt, who has posted strong minor league numbers and looked like the kind of depth piece a club would want to keep around.
Ethan Salas is a big reason the squeeze has gotten tighter. His rapid climb through the system and into the majors has changed the way San Diego has to think about the position, pushing the organization to juggle its catching depth chart in real time. For Hunt, the issue was never just performance, it was timing and traffic, with multiple catchers already in the way of any clear path forward. [Read more 🡒]
Former Astros Pitching Bets Just Took Another Rough Turn
The Padres latest round of roster churn included a pair of familiar names with some upside but little recent traction. J.P. France and Jos Leclerc, both right-handed pitchers on minor league contracts, have been released after each spent time trying to work their way back into form in the organization. France had logged 10 2/3 innings for San Diegos Triple-A club, while Leclerc moved through four minor league levels as the Padres continued to sort through depth options on the pitching side.
For both pitchers, the next step appears to be free agency again, which keeps the door open for another club willing to take a look. It is the kind of turn that comes with this stage of the season for fringe arms: a chance to reset, find a better fit, and hope the next stop offers a cleaner path back to the majors. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Add Veteran Arm As Bullpen Depth Questions Keep Growing
The Padres added another experienced arm to their pitching mix this week, signing Trevor Gott to a minor league contract and assigning him to Triple-A El Paso. Gott brings big league time from stops with the Mariners and Mets, and he was most recently in the Nationals organization, making him a familiar sort of depth piece for a club that has spent much of the season shuffling through relief options.
San Diegos need for reinforcements showed up again with the roster moves that opened the door for Gott, as the club released right-handers J.P. France and Jos Leclerc. Whether Gott can work his way back into the picture from El Paso is the next question, but for now he joins a bullpen pipeline that keeps changing as the Padres look for dependable innings. [Read more 🡒]