Padres Have Two Top-50 Prospects on Updated Midseason List

Maren Angus-Coombs | Aug 15, 2024

Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

There is a new top 100 prospect list at MLB Pipeline, and the San Diego Padres have two players ranked among the top 50.

Ethan Salas (No. 20) and Leodalis De Vries (No. 47) are the top players in the last two international signing classes, and remain No. 1 and No. 2 on the team’s re-ranked Top 30 prospects list, per MLB Pipeline.

San Diego made a handful of moves at the trade deadline and traded away several prospects. As history shows, general manager A.J. Preller is capable of rebuilding the farm system quickly.

“We think highly of that group,” Preller said of the prospects he traded away. “We expect those guys to pitch in the big leagues and do really good things. We also, though, are super excited about the group right behind those guys that were pushing those guys. In some ways, for us, when we talked about our system and our depth, that was a strength of ours. … We’ve got some guys that we feel pretty good about.”

The Padres traded away 12 of their top 21 players listed in their preseason prospect rankings. At least the evidence of those trades is obvious from who the Padres received in return: Dylan Cease, Luis Arraez, Jason Adam, Tanner Scott and Bryan Hoeing.

🚨 RERANK TIME 🚨

We've updated the Top 100 Prospects list and all of the team Top 30s!

Dig in: https://t.co/brrhUFnhPo pic.twitter.com/mV3P5IXQcp

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 14, 2024

“We have other good players in the system,” Preller said. “They can’t all play on the field at the same time.”

Salas signed with the Padres for $5.6 million out of Venezuela as the prize of the 2023 international signing period.

In the week leading up to the release of the prospect rankings, Salas was 6-for-23 last week with three doubles, two home runs, five RBIs, two walks and three runs scored for a .320 on-base percentage and a .652 slugging percentage for a .982 OPS.

The 6-foot-1 left-handed hitter hasn't been the most consistent but he is starting to heat up. He is hitting .195 (64-for-328) with 18 doubles, two triples, four home runs, 36 RBIs, nine stolen bases, 41 walks and 28 runs scored in 89 games for a .285 on-base percentage and a .299 slugging percentage for a .584 OPS.

De Vries has made a strong impression as a 17-year-old shortstop playing professional baseball.

He has been playing with Single-A Lake Elsinore this season and hit his first career home run on June 25. Storm manager Lukas Ray says De Vries consistently stands out as the best player on the field and demonstrates a strong work ethic during pregame preparations.