The bilingual Salas split much of his youth between Florida, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic...Ethan's older brother, José, signed with Miami in 2019 and was ranked No. 4 in the Marlins' system by Baseball America heading into 2023...José was traded from the Marlins to the Twins as part of the deal for Luis Arráez a few days after Ethan was signed by San Diego...Ethan's younger brother, Andrew, was the No. 5 overall international prospect per MLB Pipeline in 2025 and signed with the Marlins...Ethan’s father, José Sr., played in the Braves system...Ethan's uncle played in the in the Blue Jays’ system, and his grandfather played in the Astros’ and Royals’ systems...His first interview on MLB Network came on live television last Jan. 16, 2023, the day after the Padres signed him for an international hard-cap era record $5.6 million signing bonus…Salas spent the next afternoon touring Petco Park and fielding questions from local media inside the home clubhouse…on Feb. 3-4, he joined several Major League veterans for the Padres ‘Thank SD Tour’ around the community, signed hundreds of autographs at the Padres’ annual fan festival and caught bullpen sessions for Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove in San Diego prior to heading to Arizona for Minor League Spring Training.
2024
Began his second professional season and first full campaign as the youngest player in Minor League Baseball at just 17 years old, not turning 18 until June 1...Spent the entire campaign with High-A Fort Wayne, where he owned a .206 average and .599 OPS in 101 games… made 67 appearances (all starts) behind the dish and 43 appearances (all starts) as the designated hitter...All four of his HR and 27 of his 33 XBH came against righthanded pitching…including his first pro season in ’23, 12 of his 13 long balls have come against righties...Doubled his steal total with 10 in '24 compared to five in '23... swiped two bags in his first three games played from April 5-7...Made the most at-bats out of the three-hole in the TinCaps lineup, batting .223 with 29 of his 52 RBI...Hit .254 (30-for-118) with RISP compared to a .177 clip (41-for-232) with the bases empty...Hit .375 (21-56) on first pitches of an AB that got put in play...Hit .173 (28-for-162) as the designated hitter compared to a .229 clip (57-for-249) as the catcher...Posted a .986 fielding percentage (nine errors, 647 total chances) behind the dish...After posting a 20% catcher caught stealing rate in 2023 (9/45), he recorded a 38.5 CCS% (28/73) in 2024...Selected to play in MLB's 2024 All-Star Futures Game... started the game behind the dish for the NL squad and went 1-for-2 with one run scored in the NL's 6-1 victory...with Robert Hassell (2022) and Jackson Merrill (2023) representing Fort Wayne in the event, the TinCaps became one of only two teams out of 30 at the High-A level to have had a player selected for this showcase each year since 2022...Eleven of his 27 doubles on the season came in August and he posted a 109 wRC+ during the month...Following the season, Salas joined fellow top Padres’ prospect Leodalis De Vries as the first players at age 18 to get consistent run in the Arizona Fall League since the Mariners’ Julio Rodríguez in 2019....there have been five other players since 2005 to get at least 25 at-bats at the same age, including Bryce Harper, who did so twice (2010-11)…Salas hit .228 with a .751 OPS, six 2B and four HR, while his 21 RBI ranked tied for third and 95 at-bats ranked tied for fifth in the prospect circuit...Selected to the Fall Stars Game, started at catcher and batted second...went 1-for-1 with a walk and two stolen bases, scoring a run on an errant throw.
2023
Prior to beginning his professional career stateside, he appeared in one game for Aguilas del Zulia in the Venezuelan Winter League on Nov. 4, 2022 at 16-years-old… he grounded out twice and walked twice, but caught 8.0 innings against Tiburones de La Guaira, guiding the Zulia pitching staff to holding the opposition hitless until the fifth inning...Began his professional career on May 30 with Single-A Lake Elsinore, where he batted .267 (51-for-191) with an .837 OPS, 11 2B, two 3B, nine HR and 35 RBI in 48 games played…he was named Cal League Prospect of the Year following the season...Earned California League Player of the Month in July with a 1.136 OPS in 82 at-bats, and was twice named Cal League Player of the Week during the month on July 9 and July 30...Collected four HR in a three-game stretch from July 4-6, including his first career multi-HR game July 6 at Visalia...Recorded his first walk-off hit July 18 vs. Rancho Cucamonga in the Storm’s 9-8 victory with a line drive off the center field wall as part of his fourth-career three-hit game in 34th game...Homered in back-to-back games again on July 25-26 at Stockton…in the July 26 contest, he recorded his first-career four-hit contest, going 4-for-6 at the dish...On Aug. 8, he was promoted to Single-A Fort Wayne, and after just nine games with the TinCaps (in which he was 7-for-35, .200), he was promoted to Double-A San Antonio on Aug. 22, where the average age is 24…Michael De León, who played for Double-A Frisco in the Rangers' organization at age 17 in 2014, is thought to be the last 17 year old to reach that level...In his Double-A debut on Aug. 22, the then-No. 5 ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline hit his second career walk-off knock with a double in the 10th inning, delivering an 8-7 Missions win over Amarillo...On Aug. 30, he teamed up with Robby Snelling, the No. 3 left-handed pitching prospect in baseball per MLB Pipeline, as the batterymate for Snelling’s 5.0 hitless frames with nine strikeouts in the Missions’ 9-2 win over Wichita...Salas finished the season with the Missions, where he went 5-for-28 (.179) in nine games before he suffered a right knee sprain on Sept. 2, ending his 2023 season...Salas was awarded the Minor League "Debut of the Year" award on Oct. 2...Between LE, FW and SA, Salas made 34 appearances (all starts) at catcher, posting a .987 fielding percentage (four errors, 306 total chances)…threw out nine runners in 45 stolen base attempts (17 CCS%)…also made 32 appearances (all stars) as the designated hitter.
