Padres consider this prospect untouchable, proving even AJ Preller has his limits

Well, at least the Friar faithful know that president of baseball operations AJ Preller isn't planning to sell the farm at the upcoming MLB trade deadline. While the San Diego Padres desperately need to make some additions before July 30 if they hope to stay in the playoff hunt, at least one of the Friars' top prospects has been deemed off limits.

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Padres will be aggressively seeking to upgrade the roster, but top prospect Ethan Salas is untouchable. Salas is San Diego's highest-rated prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, and ranks in the top 10 among all of the young talent in the game today.

Padres Prospect: Ethan Salas is untouchable at MLB trade deadline

Salas was a non-roster invitee to San Diego's spring training earlier this year despite the fact he was just 17 years old at the time. After accelerating Salas through the minor leagues last season, the Padres have been a bit more judicious with their approach in 2024.

The Padres, wanting to allow Salas to gain as much playing time as possible, moved him from Low-A, to High-A, and then to Double-A over the final few weeks of the 2023 season. With the lower levels ending their season in late-August, the Friars strategically gave Salas opportunities to keep putting in work over the entire summer.

In 2024, Salas has been toiling away at High-A Fort Wayne. The results haven't been there, but the Padres are undoubtedly pleased with his development and current trajectory given that he is just 18 years old. While some view Salas as potential piece of the Padres' active roster by next season, he's endured some setbacks in 2024 that may delay his ascension to the big leagues.

Salas is hitting just .195/.295/.275 in 70-plus games with the Tin Caps this season. The month of July has been even more troubling for him at the dish (.143/.200/.243 over his last 12 games). But Salas is still drawing walks at about a 12% clip and keeping his strikeout rate below 25%.

Padres fans shouldn't overreact to Salas' struggles this season — almost every talent evaluator sees him as one of the best prospects in baseball. It should be refreshing news to Pads fans that Salas is considered untouchable at the trade deadline. What will be interesting, however, is if the same holds true for fellow prospect Leodalis De Vries as San Diego looks to make additions over the next week.

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