Padres’ future cornerstone just got a cold reality check from MLB Pipeline Top 100 rankings

It was well known that the Padres' farm system would be thin when entering spring training, as three trades in exchange for four players meant that the team would need to relinquish a total of 13 prospects.

The flurry of trades included MLB’s No. 3-ranked prospect overall, Leo De Vries, who shipped to the Athletics along with three others in exchange for the hard-throwing right-hander, Mason Miller.

What the Padres wanted to do was retain one guy in particular, and that is catcher Ethan Salas, who many believe is “next up” in terms of stardom amongst the club. At 21 years of age, Salas would mightily improve a catching room that has not been in peak form for quite some time.

Ethan Salas gets a cold Top 100 wake-up call that complicates the Padres’ future

However, despite the respect he’s gained from Padres fans, MLB doesn’t think as highly of Salas, to the surprise of many.

MLB released an updated version of its top 100 prospects across the minor league systems on Friday, and Salas has slipped out of the rankings.

The dropoff has to do with his decline in Triple-A San Antonio, where Salas is slashing a dismal .188/.325/.219 with a sub-.600 OPS. These numbers are horrible compared to 2023 with Single-A Lake Elsinore, where he slashed .267/.350/.487 with an .837 OPS.

San Diego only has one prospect ranked in the top 100, and that is left-hander Kruz Schoolcraft. Standing at 6’8 and 229 lbs, the 18-year-old didn’t pitch his best ball in 2025, but his potential is through the roof. This is why he is ranked.

Back to the main topic, Salas’ dropoff tells us more about the Padres' contending window, and less about the farm system. The team went all in at the deadline to make an effort to contend in 2025, but fell short.

In 2026, the Padres will be relying on the same core as last year to stay afloat. If they can’t, the 2025 deadline will go down as one of the biggest failures in the history of the franchise.