The top player in the class is one of the best catching prospects in recent history. His strong skills on the field are matched by his notable family ties, as his grandfather, father and uncle all played professionally. He is the younger brother of Twins prospect Jose Salas, and he could end up being the best player in the family.
The athletic Salas has a good feel for the strike zone and shows the ability to hit the ball to all fields. He shows good raw power, and it is expected to increase as he develops. He has a nice loose swing and shows the ability to hit home runs in batting practice and games. On defense, he shows plus potential because of his soft hands, blocking ability and receiving skills. He shows good throwing mechanics and a strong arm. He is already exhibiting leadership skills and runs well for a catcher.
He is trained by his father, Jose Salas Sr. and Cesar Suarez of CJ Baseball Academy. The Padres are among the teams who have shown strong interest. Suarez is a member of MLB's Trainer Partnership Program.
Salas was considered the No. 1 international prospect in 2023 and signed with the Padres for a $5.6 million bonus that matched that reputation. San Diego pushed him aggressively not only stateside but to Single-A Lake Elsinore for his first full season, and Salas even touched Double-A for nine games before a right knee sprain ended his campaign. He spent all of High-A Fort Wayne with uneven results, needing a late surge to salvage a .206/.288/.311 line in 111 games, but held his own in the Arizona Fall League. Salas moved up to San Antonio for a Double-A return in 2025 but lasted only 10 games before dealing with a stress reaction in his back the rest of the summer.
Still only 19 come Opening Day 2026, Salas remains one of the most difficult evaluations among today’s prospects. His offensive progress late in 2024 stemmed from an adjustment to stand taller in the box, stay squarer to the ball and not undercut so many pitches in a way that previously led to harmless flyballs and popups. His stance in the brief San Antonio run remained just as simple, but the sample was much too small for sweeping takeaways. He was considered fully healthy and back to taking swings in the offseason, and the power looked like it returned nicely in his early days back in the Texas League to begin this season.
Even during the bad times, Salas was considered a gifted defender behind the plate and advanced beyond his years in terms of game planning, blocking and receiving. He’d also worked to become a more efficient thrower to control the running game. Salas still has time on his side but could use a full season of health in ’26 to reestablish himself as a future starting catching option for San Diego.
Ranked as the No. 1 international prospect in 2023, Salas signed with the Padres for $5.6 million that January, and the hype around him only grew as he opened his age-17 season at Single-A Lake Elsinore. San Diego continued to push the backstop with stops at High-A Fort Wayne and Double-A San Antonio before a right knee sprain ended his year early. He returned to the Midwest League for 2024 and remained there all season, finishing with just a .206/.288/.311 line and four homers in 111 games. He showed some improvements from August onward (109 wRC+ in the month) and held his own in the Arizona Fall League.
In July, Salas traveled to San Diego to work with Padres Major League hitting coaches and started standing taller in the box. The adjustment helped him stay more square to the ball rather than getting under pitches for catchable fly balls, and he became more proficient at producing extra-base hits (11 of his 27 doubles on the season came in August). His strikeout and walk rates were still within healthy margins, but some evaluators would still like to see the quality of contact return for a larger sample.
While the bat perplexes, Salas' defensive work remains a major strength. Sticking with one team all season enabled him to become even better at working with pitchers and forming game plans, and his blocking and receiving earned strong marks for a High-A backstop. He also improved at limiting the running game in '24 after focusing more on efficiency than quickness with his throws. He's a fine example of the phrase "development isn't always linear," and that's continuing into 2025 as he's missed most of the season with a stress reaction in his back.
Considered the clear No. 1 international prospect in the 2023 class, Salas signed with the Padres on Jan. 15 for $5.6 million of the organization's $5,825,500 base signing pool. San Diego believed the Venezuela native – and brother of Twins prospect Jose Salas – to be extremely advanced and backed that up by skipping him over both complex leagues and starting him at Single-A Lake Elsinore in late May, a few days short of his 17th birthday. Salas hit .267/.350/.487 with nine homers in 48 games with the Storm and was given quick second-half promotions to High-A Fort Wayne and Double-A San Antonio (the latter to help the club's postseason push) before a right knee sprain ended his season early in September.
Salas has taken a step back offensively in his return to Fort Wayne in 2024, leaving much of the industry scratching their heads at who he could still be. On one hand, he's been one of only two 18-year-old qualifiers at the High-A level (Sebastian Walcott being the other), and he hasn't struck out as much as one might expect for a player so young at that level. On the other, he's elevated the ball perhaps too much on contact, leading to infield popouts and catchable flyballs in the outfield that have dulled his BABIP and overall offensive profile. The quality of contact could improve with more physical maturity.
What has made an already aggressive San Diego front office ready to push Salas this hard in the first place was his defense behind the plate. He draws strong reviews for his blocking, receiving, throwing and communication skills, including from Major Leaguers who worked with him early in 2023. Salas still has an immense ceiling as a multi-tooled backstop, but he might be on more of a traditional development track than it seemed like he'd take at the end of his first season.
The Salas family has already been through the international signing process when Jose (now a Twins prospect) signed with the Marlins for $2.8 million in July 2019. Nearly four years later, younger brother Ethan, who was also born in Florida before moving to Venezuela, had his chance to join the pro ranks and did so with even more fanfare. Ranked as MLB Pipeline's No. 1 international prospect for 2023, Salas signed with the Padres for $5.6 million in January, taking nearly all of the organization's $5,825,500 base signing pool.
Despite the heavy investment, Padres officials routinely come back saying they believe it was worth going almost all-in on the 16-year-old, who could be a rare five-tool catcher. Salas's smooth left-handed swing helps him make solid contact to all fields and he's already shown above-average power during his move stateside after showcasing some of that pop at Petco Park in preseason BP sessions.
The Padres had Salas work with Major Leaguers -- including Yu Darvish -- in early bullpens because his receiving, blocking, hands, communication skills and overall movement behind the plate are already so advanced. His ability to pop out of the crouch and utilize impressive arm strength should also help him limit the running game. Salas also runs well for a catcher, and even if he slows as he ages, the rest of his game is so well-rounded that he could be the face of the next catching generation. He's already proven himself at an aggressive assignment to Single-A Lake Elsinore and was even pushed to High-A Fort Wayne as a 17-year-old in August.
These run values are leveraged, meaning the base/out situation at the time of the event does impact the run value (thus introducing context outside the batter's own contribution).
Note: xHR tells how many of this player's batted balls would have been out of other stadiums. The "Adjusted" view here accounts for different wall heights, distances and environmental effects using Statcast Park Factor data.
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Note: xHR tells how many of this player's batted balls would have been out of other stadiums. The "Standard" view here accounts for different wall heights and distances but excludes environmental effects. It is based purely on the observed trajectory of the hit.
! Note: Shifts are through the 2022 season, Shaded starting from the 2023 season, Shift: three or more infielders are on the same side of second base, Shade: positioned outside of their typical responsible slices of the field. Learn more about how positioning is defined here
