PEORIA, Ariz. — Ethan Salas turned 19 last June.
That’s right. Nineteen.
Because his brothers play in the Marlins system, a muted celebration involved just mom and dad at a dinner not far from the Peoria Sports Complex, where Salas spent most of a year all but lost to a stress reaction in his lower back.
But not all was lost.
The Padres made sure of that once it became clear that their prized catching prospect’s development would be significantly derailed.
“Yeah, in a perfect world, he would have gotten 500 at bats in Double-A,” Padres assistant farm director Mike Daly said. “I don’t think anybody’s going to argue that, but I think there were opportunities for Ethan to be able to grow off the field.”
Especially in an organization overflowing with catching IQ.
Special assistant A.J. Ellis spent a good chunk of an 11-year, big-league career as the personal catcher for future Hall-of-Famer Clayton Kershaw. Another special assistant, Scott Servais, caught in the majors for 11 years before managing the Mariners for nine. Kevin Plawecki caught eight years in the majors before beginning his coaching career last year in the Padres system. Big-league advance scout Mike Borzello never advanced past A-ball as a catcher, but he won four rings with the Yankees as a bullpen catcher and another as the Cubs’ catching coach in 2016.
It would be hard to find a better group to lean on while making sure that Salas at least stayed in “baseball school” during his down time.
“Obviously anytime you have a player loses developmental time, you kind of worry about it,” Servais said. “Where is he going to be?”
Hence the comprehensive syllabus that was put together at the direction of Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller.
The foundation was a weekly video conference that rotated between the four former catchers. The subject matter tackled everything from how to call a game, to the mental aspects of the position, to the right analytics to look at, to how to incorporate scouting reports into a game plan and everything in between. Assignments included devising opposing scouting reports while he was still at Double-A San Antonio, following the Padres’ big-league games at night with the scouting report in hand and helping the young catchers at the Peoria Sports Complex develop attack plans ahead of Arizona Complex League and unofficial “Bridge League” games.
“Because anytime you have to teach something,” Servais said, “you learn it even better yourself.”
Then there were the seven or eight field trips to the Diamondbacks’ Chase Field with Borzello to watch the game from behind home plate with the rest of the scouts.
There, everything was put on Salas’ radar: Why is the runner being held in that situation? Why are the left and center fielders in “no doubles” but the left fielder is not? Why are the infielders in “three-depth” instead of all the way in?” Why does the scouting report say to avoid strike sliders to a particular hitter?
“The game, when you watch it like that, actually moves fast,” Borzello said.
He added: “Cerebrally he’s advanced for his age, and for as little as he’s played, he absorbs the information really well. Now it’s just about playing and getting reps.”
Bone scans in November and January cleared Salas’ return to action and he’s slowly working his way back this spring as he prepares to get back to work this year in Double-A.
Surprise, AZ – February 21: Ethan Salas #90 of the San Diego Padres sits in the dugout during a spring training game against the Kansas City Royals on February 21, 2026 in Surprise, AZ. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Salas collected only 41 plate appearances in the Texas League last April before he was shut down and he had a .599 OPS in 2024 after opening the 2024 season as the youngest player in the Midwest League.
All of that is reason why Salas’ stock has fallen as the prospect industry goes — he’s down from No. 8 before the 2024 season to No. 90 at Baseball America this year and entirely outside the top-100 at MLB.com.
But Salas seems to have a healthy understanding of how that works, too.
“They love you when you’re hot,” he said with a laugh, “and they hate you when you’re not.”
Ethan Salas #90 of the San Diego Padres runs the bases during spring training workouts at the Peoria Sports Complex on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026 in Peoria, Ariz.. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Indeed, Salas was hot when he signed for $5.6 million in January 2023 as the top international amateur, was the rare 16-year-old position player at a full-season affiliate that year and was sitting on nine homers in 48 games at low Single-A Lake Elsinore when the Padres began to push their catching prodigy up the ladder.
In between the growing pains sustained along the way, he had little time to truly just sit with everything thrown at him since catching big-league bullpens in spring training weeks after signing.
Consider that another byproduct of a year spent watching and learning and waiting to get back on the field. He’s bigger (215 pounds, up from 195 or so), he’s shortened up some of the movement in his swing to be more consistent with his contact point and now he’s armed with a 400-level crash course on the most intricate position in the game as he prepares to get his career back on track.
“I think that’s why I didn’t see last year as the biggest negative in the world,” Salas said. “I just took a lot of time to reflect, kind of make a plan starting forward and how I want to start going about things and I want to start playing and taking care of my business.
“I mean, I’m still young. I’m still (bleeping) grinding, still love this game and I know I’m going to do good things in this game.”