'Mastermind' catcher Salas leads Padres' AFL squad

The first thing you hear about Ethan Salas the ballplayer is how incredibly advanced he is for his age. There seldom are 18-year-olds in big league Spring Training camp or at the Arizona Fall League, but San Diego has handled Salas’ development with one ethos in mind: Push the gifted.

It’s what led to Salas catching the Padres’ Major League pitchers this spring. It’s what led to Fall League and High-A Fort Wayne teammate Harry Gustin calling him “a mastermind behind the plate.” And it’s what led to a catcher with 111 games already under his belt in 2024 getting tabbed to showcase his skills on the premier prospect circuit.

“I feel really, really strongly about my [work] on the defensive side of the ball,” Salas, the Padres’ top prospect, said. “Really just [trying to] be there for the pitcher, I'm there for whatever he needs. I'm really trying to learn my guys -- learn their strengths, learn their weaknesses. And in terms of working on things, just staying consistent and the game will tell me what I need to work on.”

While Salas’ defensive acumen draws rave reviews from evaluators and pitchers alike, his bat was significantly challenged this season at High-A. More than four years younger than the average player on the Midwest League circuit, Salas fell into an offensive malaise that lingered into the summer. All told, he hit just .206 with a .598 OPS, even as there were positive developments such as his strikeout rate dropping to just above 20 percent.

The biggest difference was that last season with Single-A Lake Elsinore, when Salas hit the ball in the air, it went over the fence at a 16.1 percent clip. Despite posting a nearly identical 40.8 percent fly-ball rate this year (40.9 with Lake Elsinore in ‘23), just 3.1 percent of those balls went for homers in the notoriously brisk early-season temps of the Midwest League.

“I went out to San Diego and worked with some of the guys -- fixed some things,” Salas said of his in-season reset. “I stayed a little taller, stayed a little less in my legs and used my leverage more. … And putting up competitive at-bats, I think I wasn't doing so much of that. It was inconsistent more in the beginning of the year and then toward the end, it was really good.”

Following those tweaks, Salas’ run in August was more befitting of his status as MLB's No. 19 overall prospect:

.255/.308/.429, 11 doubles, two homers, 18 RBIs.

Two years ago, Ethan’s older brother, Jose, took on the rigors of the Fall League. (He was subsequently dealt as part of the Luis Arraez/Pablo López trade that offseason.) Younger brother, Andrew, ranks as the No. 4 prospect on MLB Pipeline’s Top 50 International Prospects list for 2025, just months away from officially joining a big league organization in his own right.

Ethan, excited to carry over his hot stretch from the end of the year to the favorable hitting conditions of the desert, will again be playing a big brother role of sorts during his time with the Peoria Javelinas. Leodalis De Vries, who followed in Salas’ footsteps as the No. 1 international prospect before choosing to sign with the Padres and enjoying a meteoric rise in his own right (MLB’s No. 28 prospect) and just turned 18 on Oct. 11, will also be on hand. The two have already made their mark on the league, doing so all while being the youngest members, tasked with consistently facing older, more experienced competition.

“He's having a blast, just helping him with whatever he needs,” Salas said of De Vries. “Obviously, he's a great baseball player and he's gonna do what he's gonna do on the field, but just kind of bringing him under my wing and kind of teaching him how things are done a little bit.”

Other Padres hitters in the Fall League

Leodalis De Vries, SS (No. 2): The youngest player in the 2024 Fall League -- and the youngest on the circuit in a decade -- the Padres continue to push De Vries, the No. 1 international prospect who signed a pro deal this January. Having been “the best player on the field every night” during a stint with Single-A Lake Elsinore as a 17-year-old this season, the switch-hitter is facing even more elevated competition to close out his first year. Over his final 35 regular-season games, De Vries delivered a .996 OPS with 21 of his 40 hits going for extra bases, all while facing an older pitcher in every plate appearance of the season.

Romeo Sanabria, 1B (No. 23): Having played 125 games between Single-A, High-A and Double-A San Antonio, Sanabria gets his latest test as he continues his acclimation to advanced pitching. A career .301 hitter across three Minor League seasons since San Diego selected him in the 18th round of the 2022 Draft out of Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Fla., the left-handed-hitting first baseman brings an on-base oriented approach to the dish. Drafted as a catcher after playing there in college and in Rookie ball, the Padres have sent the 22-year-old out as a first baseman over the past two seasons, which is also where he’ll get all of his Fall League reps as the club readies him for a full season at the upper levels of the Minors in 2025.

Brendan Durfee, C: It’s not often that Draft picks from July are tabbed to get extra reps in the Fall League in October and November, but the chance to get the 23-year-old Durfee more looks behind the plate was too good of an opportunity to pass up for San Diego. Nabbed in the 14th round out of UC Santa Barbara, the left-handed-hitting backstop, who views JT Realmuto as a player to model himself after, slashed .288/.413/.480 in 20 games with Lake Elsinore to begin his pro career.

Padres pitchers in the Fall League

Ryan Bergert, RHP (No. 25): San Diego’s recent Draft trends have shown a willingness to roll the dice on high-upside arms when other clubs may shy away due to elbow troubles. Bergert fit their mold and will now exceed the 100-inning threshold for the third consecutive year with his workload in the AFL. The overall marks (4.78 ERA, .756 opponents’ OPS) won’t wow anyone, but over his final 10 starts with San Antonio, those numbers dropped to a 2.89 ERA and .571 opponents’ OPS. Working with a low-90s heater, low-80s slider that grades out as his best offering, changeup and curveball, the ingredients are still there for Bergert as a rotation piece. He’ll be Rule 5 Draft-eligible this winter if he's not added to the 40-man roster, so his time with Peoria is a final proving ground.

Luis German, RHP: It’s easy to dream on a high-octane arm like German’s, capable of pumping his fastball up near triple digits. Equipped with a fastball that consistently pops 99 mph on the radar gun, and a hammer of a breaking pitch, the biggest thing for the 23-year-old will be harnessing it all: 215 batters stepped in against German at Single-A this year and none homered, but more problematically, 57 walked in just 41 2/3 innings. Just five of his 35 appearances for Lake Elsinore didn’t feature a walk, though he did continue to whiff batters at an elevated rate (11.3 K/9 for his career).

Harry Gustin, LHP: Having pitched at Chase Field as a prep hurler for a showcase event, the 23-year-old southpaw is back in the desert looking to continue his ascension up the Padres’ system. San Diego has worked Gustin out of the ‘pen since he was selected in the 18th round of the 2023 Draft out of the University of Hawai’i, where he found success as a starter in 2023. That shift to a relief role has turned him into a fastball/slider southpaw, with the former offering coming in around 91-92 mph, while the bender sits in the mid 80s. With just 8 1/3 innings at High-A under his belt, his time with Peoria will serve as a barometer of how well his stuff can play moving forward.

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David Morgan, RHP: Hope International University, an NAIA program in Southern California, has yet to produce a big leaguer, a fact Morgan looks to change as he makes his way up San Diego’s system. An undrafted free agent who starred as a two-way player during his collegiate days, Morgan worked 60 2/3 innings this season between Fort Wayne and San Antonio, compiling better than a strikeout per frame. Working with a 95-97 mph fastball, upper-80s cutter and a mid-80s slide piece, he has been particularly nasty on right-handed batters, who hit just .193 with a .578 OPS against him this year (versus a .321 AVG and .977 OPS against lefties).

Gabe Mosser, RHP: Another small school find, Mosser was a 27th-round choice out of Shippensburg University, a D2 program in southern Pennsylvania, in 2018. Having consistently plugged his way through the Padres’ system, the 28-year-old is on the big league doorstep after making 28 appearances (26 starts) for Triple-A El Paso this season. Equipped with a four-pitch arsenal that features an upper-80s sinker, a low-80 slider, a mid-70s splitter and an upper-70s curveball, Mosser has the look of a ground-ball specialist. He notched a 42.7 grounder rate this year, the fourth-highest mark in the Pacific Coast League this season among all hurlers with at least 100 innings.