Padres' No. 2 prospect Salas to miss 2 months with stress reaction in back

SAN DIEGO -- Padres catching prospect Ethan Salas has a stress reaction in his lower back, general manager A.J. Preller announced Monday. Salas will miss around two months, Preller said, putting his expected return at some point in July.

The organization’s No. 2 prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 29 overall, Salas has been out of the lineup since mid-April. The 18-year-old catcher signed with the club as the top international prospect in the 2023 class, and he began this season at Double-A San Antonio.

“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.”

Salas endured some struggles last season, hitting just .206 with a .599 OPS at High-A Fort Wayne. The Padres remain extremely bullish on his upside and have raved about his work behind the plate.

Preller noted that Salas sustained the injury as a result of overuse that can be typical of young baseball players taking on a heavy workload. A 20-year-old Fernando Tatis Jr. also endured a stress reaction in his back, ending his 2019 rookie season in mid-August. Tatis hasn’t felt the effects of that injury since.

Initial tests did not reveal the specific nature of the injury, but Salas continued to feel the discomfort, so the Padres shut him down. A recent CT scan confirmed the stress reaction. The Padres remain hopeful Salas’ development won’t be hindered by the injury.

“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.”