Ethan Salas, 16, of the San Diego Padres catches during a spring training game against the Chicago White Sox on March 11, 2023 in Peoria, Arizona. Salas was promoted to Low-A Lake Elsinore this week. (Photo by Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres/Getty Images)
By Matthew Tallarini
World Baseball Network
San Diego Padres prospect catcher and MLB.com Pipeline No. 87 prospect Ethan Salas made his professional debut yesterday, going 2-for-3 with a double and single in his first two at-bats.
Salas, 16, was in the lineup for the Low-A Lake Elsinore Storm, who beat the Visalia Rawhide by the score of 3-1. Signed out of Venezuela, Salas was promoted from the Arizona Complex League Padres earlier in the day.
Salas served as the designated hitter and is currently batting .667 with a 1.000 slugging percentage following his first game in the California League. He appeared in one spring training game for San Diego, going 0-for-1 against the Chicago White Sox on March 11.
The Storm will play their second game of their three game series against Rawhide today at 9:05 p.m. EDT, and the game will be streamed on MiLB.com with a paid subscription.
Salas signed with the Padres back on January 15 in the first day of the 2023 Major League Baseball international amateur signing period for $5.6 million signing bonus and was the Padres’ third-highest international signing prospect behind Morejon at $11 million and Jorge Ona at $7 million that signed back in July of 2016.
Salas is the first player born in 2006 to debut in the minor leagues, and the first player signed during the 2023 international signing period to appear at the Low-A level this year.