Well, it happened. Ethan Salas is officially a Padre. Twenty years old, joining the team in Cincinnati, and he’s going to be the youngest catcher to appear in a big league game since Ivan Rodriguez back in 1991. Pudge Rodriguez. That’s the company we’re talking about here.

I brought this up on the August 20th episode of the show, when the Kevin Acee newsletter first floated the idea. I wasn’t predicting it would happen, I was just weighing in on whether it should. And I said my answer had changed. Three months earlier I would’ve said no. By August, it was yes.

That’s because this kid earned it. He struggled, got hurt, lost most of a season, fell off some prospect lists. Then he came back and climbed his way through Double-A and Triple-A, hitting .949 OPS in 24 games at El Paso with more walks than strikeouts.

I also said there needed to be a real purpose behind bringing him up, not just doing it to do it. September call-up, roster expansion, a real runway to actually see what he’s got. That’s the right way to do this.

I was nervous about the pressure of dropping a twenty year old into a playoff race with everyone watching. But everything about how he’s carried himself tells me he’s built for it.