3 things we learned from Ethan Salas’ highly anticipated Padres debut

It wasn’t exactly a ceremonial debut for Ethan Salas, but it didn’t need to be. The Padres put their 20-year-old top prospect behind the plate, batted him sixth and asked him to handle a pitching staff. Unfortunately, Salas didn’t have the same fortune as, say, Lázaro Montes. Baseball was a little rude to Salas on September 2.

Salas finished 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, and the Padres watched an early three-run lead dissolve into a 7–3 loss to the Reds. It sounds like a forgettable debut. It wasn’t.

The afternoon gave us a loud introduction, a reminder of the adjustments ahead and a clear answer about what the Padres should do with Salas now.

Ethan Salas’ first swing told us more than his 0-for-4 day

Salas didn’t ease himself into the majors. His first big-league swing was a 99.4 mph fly ball that traveled 390 feet to deep center field. It was an out. But the exit velo, distance and contact quality was encouraging to see.

He followed that drive with a 93.4 mph groundout in his second at-bat. His first two trips showed that major-league pitching didn’t immediately overpower his bat. Unfortunately the last two may have.

Salas struck out on three pitches in the sixth and went down looking on a backdoor slider after working a full count in the eighth. The first strikeout was a hittable pitch. The second was major league paint. Major-league pitchers adjusted, changed speeds and started finishing him with breaking pitches. Salas received his first lesson before the debut was even over.

His 0-for-4 was neither an empty disaster nor a secret masterpiece. He made loud contact early, got beaten late and left the ballpark with homework. That is a perfectly fine first day in the majors.

The Padres trusted Salas with a legitimate catching assignment

Salas became MLB’s youngest active player and the youngest catcher to appear in a major-league game since Iván Rodríguez in October 1991.

The assignment San Diego handed him was even more revealing. He caught all eight defensive innings and worked with Casey Mize and four Padres relievers. He committed no errors and allowed no passed balls. Cincinnati still scored seven runs on 10 hits, launched three home runs and stole a base, so it’s not like we’re talking about a defensive clinic. Still, the workload was fair.

San Diego has spent years praising Salas’ game planning, receiving and baseball intelligence. Starting him at catcher during a playoff push finally backed those words with action. 

Padres must give Ethan Salas meaningful playing time

This is the part that matters the most. Salad earned his promotion by crushing it in the minors. He was especially sharp after reaching Triple-A, displaying the contact skills and plate discipline that rebuilt his prospect stock.

The Padres already have Fermin and Luis Campusano. So they need to be precise in how they divide the catching starts. Use Salas at DH when he’s not catching. Play the matchups with his bat. There are enough ways to put him in the lineup three or four times per week without handing him the catching job outright.

One hitless game won’t alter the plan. San Diego trusted Salas enough to catch an entire major-league game in September. It needs to trust him enough to do it again.

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