Arizona Complex League ends soon; Kash Mayfield, Ethan Salas in Futures Game
· Yahoo Sports
Minor league baseball entered the All-Star break with multiple members of the San Diego Padres’ prospect list struggling through the 2026 season. The two players from the system named to the All-Star Futures Game, catcher Ethan Salas and LHP Kash Mayfield, are arguably the only two to have a consistently good first half of the season.
There have been some excellent performances by certain individuals, but the overall problem with the season so far is the lack of consistency. Salas and Mayfield have been the only players to be somewhat consistent.
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To be fair, RHP Miguel Mendez was very good before injury disrupted his flow, and he hasn’t been the same since his return off the injured list. He is the No. 4 ranked player in the system and was a breakout last year.
Several members of the Single-A Lake Elsinore Storm had tremendous starts to their first full professional seasons. So much success that they were promoted to High-A Fort Wayne at the end of the first half of the season. Since those promotions, the players have all battled to find their footing at the next level. This is not necessarily a concerning development; adjustment to new levels can sometimes take a few weeks.
A couple of members of the top ten list, No. 8 OF Kale Fountain and No. 6 C Ty Harvey, have lost all or most of their season to injury as well. Both were off to tremendous starts before those injuries occurred.
Last year’s first-round draft pick, LHP Kruz Schoolcraft, has struggled with command in his first professional season. He has recently gone into the fifth inning in a start for the first time and has had some good performances, which are usually followed by a short start with command issues. It is too soon to determine how the 6-foot-8, 245-pound teenager will develop as he matures.
With the lack of good performances and consistency from the minor league prospects, the Padres farm system remains the lowest-ranked system in MLB. Projection doesn’t count when the players in question don’t perform to confirm those expectations. The organization is approaching the August trade deadline with a decision regarding buying or selling for the major league team. The farm system provides little help beyond Salas and Mayfield if they decide to try to improve the Padres.
Ethan Salas and Kash Mayfield in the Futures GameSalas started the game as the designated hitter. He was hitting seventh in the lineup and singled in his first at-bat in the second inning. His second appearance, in the fourth inning, resulted in a walk.
LHP Mayfield entered the game in the fifth inning with Salas switching to catcher for his inning of work. Things did not go well for Mayfield or Salas in the inning. Mayfield’s pitches were consistent with his performance with Fort Wayne in that he featured his low to mid-90’s four-seam fastball, a low to mid-90’s sinker, and a slider. Things started fine with a groundout to the first hitter, and then he walked the next batter. After that, it got a little wonky. The defense behind him failed to make some plays, a stolen base got a runner to second, and a single allowed the go-ahead run, which proved to be the winning run.
Both players were out of the game after that, and Mayfield was the losing pitcher in the game.
El Paso Chihuahuas (41-51 record, 4th in the PCL East)The Chihuahuas have struggled with the constant shuttling of players between Triple-A and the Padres. They lost their best hitters when the injury bug struck the major league team and have lost a good portion of their pitching staff to the Padres. Relievers and starters go back and forth, so there is no consistency for El Paso. Their record and poor performance can’t really be held against them this season.
The latest in that revolving door scenario are RHP Matt Waldron and infielder Luis Rengifo. Both were playing well for El Paso when the parent team again suffered injuries and poor performance, which prompted the Padres to promote both.
Reliever Miguel Cienfuegos, 29, was pressed into service as a starter this past week after fellow reliever Sean Boyle, 29, began serving in the role last month.
The Padres have very little left in Triple-A that can be called up to help the major league team for the rest of this season.
San Antonio Missions (40-47 record, last in Texas League South)The Missions split their six-game series in the week leading up to the break. Infielder Carson Tucker and catcher Ethan Salas lead the team offensively. Outfielder Tirso Ornelas, who struggled with the Chihuahuas last year and was placed with the Missions this season, leads the team with 12 home runs and 38 RBI.
Outfielder Kai Roberts isn’t hitting for average and doesn’t possess a power stroke but leads the team in stolen bases with 29 out of 31 attempts.
Outfielder Braedon Karpathios, who broke out last season after being signed as an undrafted free agent in 2023, has struggled at this level. He is hitting .234/.333/.375 with eight homers and 33 RBI but has 104 strikeouts in 336 plate appearances while walking 44 times.
Outfielder Jake Cunningham, promoted at midseason from High-A, is hitting .300/.320/.486 with two homers and 13 RBI in 17 games and 75 plate appearances. He has 21 strikeouts and two walks.
LHP Jagger Haynes is their best starter with a 3-3 record and 4.57 ERA in 88.2 innings pitched. He leads the team with 77 strikeouts and has walked 41 hitters. RHP Ian Koenig has a 4.81 ERA in 78.2 innings with 63 strikeouts to 28 walks.
Reliever Johan Moreno has a 3.93 ERA in 36.2 innings of relief with 41 strikeouts to 14 walks.
Fort Wayne TinCaps (36-51 record, 5th in Midwest League East)Outfielder Kasen Wells, 22, leads the TinCaps in both average and OBP at .287/.384, but is a speed, contact, and defense-first outfielder. He has one home run and 22 RBI. First baseman Luke Cantwell, promoted from Single-A at the break, has struggled with his average in his first nine games and 37 plate appearances. He is hitting .194 but has a .496 slugging percentage with three home runs and seven RBI.
Outfielder Kavares Tears leads the team with 15 home runs and outfielder Alex McCoy has 44 RBI.
RHP Kannon Kemp, who had a three-game rehab assignment in the desert, has had two games and one start for the TinCaps. Rated in the top 20 in the Padres’ prospect rankings, Kemp had an oblique injury in Spring Training.
LHP Kash Mayfield, given a one-start break at midseason, is having his innings managed in his second professional season. The 21-year-old has 13 starts and a 3.33 ERA in 48.2 innings pitched this season after only having 60.2 innings pitched in his first season as a Padres prospect. He missed significant time with a shoulder injury and is being closely monitored. Mayfield has 58 strikeouts and 19 walks using his sinker/slider combo.
RHP Abraham Parra, 20, is unranked among the top prospects in the system. Signed as an international free agent out of Venezuela in 2023, Parra came to domestic baseball in 2024 for the rookie league Arizona team and began there again in 2025. A strike-thrower who has occasional command issues, Parra has 61 strikeouts and 40 walks in his 62.1 innings pitched for the TinCaps. His ERA sits at 5.92, but he bears watching as the season goes along.
Lake Elsinore Storm (45-42 record, 2nd in Cal League South)After losing many of their best players to promotion at the end of the first half, the Storm has struggled to win games since then. They dropped out of first in their division this past week with a 2-4 record.
Catcher Alcides Hernandez leads the team with a .333 average and .463 OBP since he became the primary backstop with the injury to Ty Harvey. Outfielder Qrey Lott, 21, an undrafted free agent signed in 2025, is their best all-around player since the mass promotion that occurred in June. He is hitting .280/.396/.427 with five homers and 24 RBI in 197 plate appearances. Lott plays all outfield positions but has been primarily a corner outfielder for the Storm.
RHP Jesus Castro, 19, an international signee out of Mexico in 2025, played for the DSL Gold team last season and is in his first domestic season as a professional. In 15 games started and 59.2 innings pitched, Castrol has a 3.92 ERA with 65 strikeouts to 20 walks. He has a sinker, changeup, and sweeper combination that induces lots of ground balls and limits home runs. Currently unranked in the system, Castro and Winyer Churio (promoted at the midpoint) contributed significantly to the first-half success for the Storm.
Former two-way player Sean Barnet did not succeed in his attempt to be both a hitter and a pitcher and has since focused just on pitching. He has quietly put together a bounce-back season as a reliever. In 28 games and 31.1 innings pitched, Barnett has a 6.32 ERA but has improved significantly over the past six weeks. In 14.1 innings pitched, he has allowed six earned runs with nine hits for a 3.83 ERA and 21 strikeouts with 13 walks.
ACL Padres (29-24 record, 3rd in ACL West)The ACL season ends on July 23.
Both RHP Randy Vásquez and David Morgan began their rehab assignments in the desert with the ACL team on July 15. Vasquez went 2.2 innings with a hit and three strikeouts, allowing no runs. Morgan went 0.1 innings with a hit, no runs, and two walks to one strikeout.
The ACL team has benefited from the promotion of outfielder Eddson Martinez from the DSL. He has played in 16 games and leads the team with a .396/.485/.547 batting line with eight RBI. The 18-year-old hasn’t shown any power, with no home runs in his pro career over 107 games. He has 16 strikeouts to 12 walks in 70 plate appearances.
Outfielder Jesmaylin Arias, 19, in his second season with the ACL team, leads the team with seven home runs and has the most RBI with 30.
LHP Adler Cecil, 21, returning from 2025 Tommy John surgery, has made seven starts for the Arizona team. He has 32.2 innings pitched with a 5.23 ERA. His strikeouts sit at 56 for those 32.2 innings with 17 walks. Not considered a high-level prospect, Cecil was drafted by the Padres in 2023 out of Temecula High School and had his surgery at the end of the 2025 Spring Training camp. He could be sent to Lake Elsinore after the ACL season ends.
DSL PadresThe Brown team sits with a 6-25 record, last in the West division)
The Brown squad continues to scuffle with the DSL season at almost the halfway point. Infielder Gabriel Teran was brought over from the Gold team and is hitting .357/.591/.571 after 22 plate appearances. No one on the team has more than one home run and infielder Yonaiker Hernandez leads with 16 RBI.
Of their starters, Yolansky Perez has five games and 19.1 innings pitched with a 4.66 ERA to lead the team. Reliever Aneury Sosa has a 2.79 ERA in 9.2 innings pitched.
DSL GoldThe Gold team has a 24-8 record, 1st in the Northwest division. They have eight hitters with an average of .300 or better. The best slugger is infielder Abraham Bastides with a .667 slug, and he leads the team with three home runs. Shortstop Joniel Hernandez, the Padres’ No. 15 prospect, has the team lead with 35 RBI. Hernandez is hitting .328/.433/.526 and leads the team with 13 doubles, two triples, and he also has two home runs.
None of their starters has an ERA under 5.26, but multiple relievers are having good appearances. RHP Albert Perez has a 3.68 ERA in 22 innings pitched. RHP Albieris Polanco has a 3.15 ERA in 20 innings pitched. Starter Michel Cervantes has a 5.63 ERA in 24 innings, leads the team with 29 strikeouts, and has 25 walks.
The majority of players in the DSL are between 17 and 19 years old.