Former Missions player named Padres Minor League Player of the Year

SAN ANTONIO — The San Diego Padres announced that former San Antonio Mission Ethan Salas is the organization’s Minor League Player of the Year for 2026. Salas began the 2026 season with the Missions before getting called up first to Triple-A El Paso and then ultimately to the big leagues, where he helped the Padres secure a spot in the 2026 MLB playoffs and even had an at-bat.

Salas, who is still just 20-years-old, had a batting average of .286 with 13 doubles, seven home runs, 37 RBIs, 33 walks, 41 runs and 14 stolen bases this season in 72 games with the Missions. He also caught 27 percent of base runners trying to steal and represented the Missions at Major League Baseball’s All-Star Futures Game last July in Philadelphia.

The Kissimmee, Florida native got promoted to the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas on July 29, where he played just 24 games before quickly rising to San Diego. Salas made his major league debut on Sept. 2 in Cincinnati and recorded his first hit, a triple, in San Francisco on Sept. 13.

The firsts have kept piling on as Salas recorded his first major league homer on Sept. 16 in Colorado, when he homered twice against the Rockies. The catcher hit a pinch-hit, walk-off single on Sept. 19 against Miami, and he was behind the plate in Los Angeles as the Padres clinched a spot in the 2026 playoffs.

Salas spent parts of three seasons in San Antonio. He initially debuted as a 17-year-old in Double-A back in 2023, when he hit a walk-off double in his first game as a Mission. He then started the 2025 campaign in San Antonio, but he played only 10 games before missing the rest of the season with a back injury.

Salas makes it four straight years in which a Mission has been named a Padres Minor League Player of the Year, and he’s the first position player to win since Graham Pauley in 2023. The last three years have seen Missions named the Padres’ Minor League Pitcher of the Year with Robby Snelling, Henry Baez and Garrett Hawkins winning that honor from 2023-2025 respectively. Baseball America independently named Salas the Padres’ Minor League Player of the Year for 2026 as well.