When Will Padres' Ethan Salas Return From Significant Back Injury?

San Diego Padres president of baseball operations and general manager A.J. Preller revealed catching prospect Ethan Salas has a stress reaction in his lower back, and will remain sidelined until July.

“The only real [solution] is rest, so he’s going to be out probably two months or so and should be totally fine in terms of coming back,” Preller said. “It’s not anything our doctors feel is long term.”

The Padres' No. 2 prospect and No. 29 prospect in MLB landed on the injured list April 26, but has not played since April 17. The 18-year-old currently plays with Double-A San Antonio and is projected to reach the major leagues in 2027. He was the No. 1 international prospect in the 2023 class, and MLB calls him "one of the best catching prospects in recent history.

“He’ll get hopefully a lot of at-bats in the second half of the year,” Preller said. “We could potentially make up at-bats when we get to the fall or winter seasons. You always want guys out on the field playing. But he’s 18 years old, this is more about long-term. He’ll get plenty of at-bats this year, plenty of playing time.”

Salas has had a rough go at the plate over the last two seasons with High-A Fort Worth and Double-A San Antonio, slashing .206/.288/.311 last year with Fort Worth, and .188/.325/.219 through 10 games this season. While his batting average and slugging percentage have taken a hit during his integration into Double-A, he is walking far more often than last season and striking out much less.

Salas had a much more productive spell in the Arizona Fall League between the 2024 and 2025 seasons, hitting as many home runs as he did in the former in less than a quarter of the at-bats. His 39 total bases were just one shy of the team lead.

Salas is over five years younger than the average player in the Texas League, so there is more than enough time for him to continue to grow into the player the Padres believe he will be.

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