Signed as an international at the age of 16 out of Venezuela, the San Diego Padres catching ‘future’ is finally part of the ‘now’ as Ethan Salas made his MLB debut on Wednesday afternoon at Great American Ball Park.
Penciled in as starting catcher and batting sixth, Salas took his first MLB at bat in the first inning against Reds lefty starter Brandon Williamson, taking the first pitch low and away before giving a middle cutter a ride to straight-away center field 390 feet for the final out of the inning.
At 20 years and 93 days old, Salas became the youngest catcher to make his Majors debut since Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez did so as at 19 years, 309 days old during the 1991 season.
"I was thinking about it and who we're facing coming up, and I felt there's going to be some hype around him, he's a very good (and) talented player, we need to get him in the game and just get that debut over with, and then he can go play baseball and be the talent that he is, he's going to help us get to the playoffs," manager Craig Stammen said.
Defensively, he caught a pop foul to the right of the plate to end the first inning, then in the third was correct on his first ABS challenge, overturning a 1-1 sinker called low that ultimately allowed starter Casey Mize to get a strikeout to finish the frame. In the eighth he perfectly executed a run down play with men on first and third, as Ty France fielded a grounder and quickly got it home so Salas could chase Dane Myers back to third and toss to Jake Cronenworth to apply the tag.
The first stealing situation he faced came in the sixth when the Reds had men on first and third with two outs, as Juan Brito got a jump and stole second with Salas holding the ball to prevent a potential double-steal.
Salas finished the game going 0-for-4 as he hit it back to the pitcher that deflected for a 1-4-3 putout to end the third, then struck out after fouling off the first two pitches in the sixth and was frozen on a full-count slide to end the eighth.
"Behind the plate I saw the same kid that I saw coming up through the minor leagues and the guy that we've had in Spring Training. Very confident behind the plate, he's learning our pitchers, but feel very good about the way he's catching the ball, the way he frames the ball — didn't get a chance to throw today, but really feel good about that," Stammen said. "And then his at bats are going to be great, he's going to be fine."
After a Tuesday that was dominated by travel, including a delay that made it so he didn’t arrive before the game, Salas was first shown on the PadresTV broadcast during the third inning greeting his teammates in the dugout wearing the number 8 in brown and gold. After the game he spoke about what his mindset is after his first call-up to the Majors.
“I’m up here just to be me and keep helping the team win, just trying to be the same guy every single day like we’ve been saying all year and trying to help where I can — nothing changes. Just gonna keep playing my game and try to be myself every single day,” Salas said after the Padres 4-3 loss on Tuesday night.
Ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the San Diego system and No. 23 in MLB, Salas had been a part of Spring Training dating back to 2023, but the climb to ‘The Show’ featured several bumps along the way. There were concerns about his hitting in High-A ball, and then a stress reaction in his lower back during the 2025 season limited him to just 10 games with Double A San Antonio.
This season Salas has dispelled concerns by slashing a combined .296/.374/.448 with 19 doubles, 10 home runs and 61 RBI with a 47/58 walk-to-strikeout ratio in 96 games between Double-A San Antonio and Triple-A El Paso. Perhaps more impressively, in his 24 games with El Paso he slashed .326/.410/.539 with 11 extra base hits (six doubles, two triples, three home runs) with 24 RBI and a 14/10 walk-to-strikeout ratio in just 24 games.
“I think just playing games, playing more baseball, enjoying the game more, finding these little things in the game where you kind of just go into flow-state, and you just find a way to enjoy the game every single day and I think that’s brought a lot of success,” Salas said on Tuesday.
The Padres dropped the finale of a six-game road trip to the Reds 7-3.
This story was updated at 12:59 p.m.