Ethan Salas selected to MLB Futures Game, Missions down Sod Poodles

The San Antonio Missions will be represented at this year’s MLB All-Star Week festivities. Missions catcher Ethan Salas was selected to the 2026 MLB Futures Game, which will be played at Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park on Sunday at 11 a.m. The game will be broadcast on NBC.

Salas is the lone Missions player to be chosen for the MLB prospect showcase, and he’s the first player from the club to make a Futures Game appearance since 2024 when he and pitcher Robby Snelling were selected. 

“It’s special,” Salas said Monday. “Definitely something we worked for, something that I’ve been striving to earn this year again. So definitely happy to be back and excited to get out to Philly so I can represent the Padres and make the Missions look good.” 

Salas is currently slashing .280/.351/.422 with 61 hits, 36 RBIs, 34 runs and seven home runs. He is the top prospect in the San Diego Padres organization in MLB Pipeline’s rankings. 

“It’s an opportunity for him to go on a big stage and I think he cherishes that opportunity,” Missions manager Chris Tremie said Sunday night.

San Antonio will also be represented at the Futures Game by Johnson graduate Kayson Cunningham, who was taken by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first round of last year’s MLB draft. Cunningham is currently playing for the Hillsboro Hops, the Diamondbacks’ High-A affiliate.

Missions outfielder Kai Roberts made Texas League history last week. The outfielder recorded his 28th consecutive stolen base in a 7-3 win over the Amarillo Sod Poodles on Thursday. Roberts broke the Texas League record for most consecutive stolen bases in a season, which was 27 by Jeff Cross of the Houston Buffaloes in 1942. 

Roberts also smashed a three-run homer Saturday night in a 8-1 victory for San Antonio. He is currently slashing .212/.319/.604 with 35 hits, 12 RBIs, 29 runs and two home runs. Roberts was drafted by the Padres in the 2024 seventh round out of the University of Utah. 

The Missions went 4-2 last week against the Amarillo Sod Poodles, marking the club’s first series win of the second half of the 2026 regular season. San Antonio is now 6-6 and 2 ½ games back from Texas League South leader Midland. The Missions held the Sod Poodles to six runs across the four games they won. 

“I can’t say enough about our pitching this week,” Tremie said. “It was outstanding.” 

Pitchers Andrew Thurman, Harry Gustin and Bernard Jose shut out Amarillo in a 3-0 win last Friday. The Missions bullpen only allowed four runs in 21 ⅓ innings pitched against the Sod Poodles last week. 

Tremie also singled out Tirso Ornelas, Jake Cunningham, Albert Fabian, Francisco Acuna and Carson Tucker as a few standout players from the Amarillo series. Ornelas has the second most doubles of any player in the Texas League with 21. He also leads the Missions in home runs (11) and is tied with Salas for most RBIs (36). 

The Missions hosted a baseball clinic Monday morning at the Ingram Little League Fields with more than 100 kids from Comfort, Ingram and Kerrville before the team hit the road for their next series at Midland. The Ingram Little League Fields were destroyed in last year’s Hill Country floods, which took the lives of 119 people. 

After the July 4 flooding, the Missions teamed up with the Round Rock Express, the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers, the Nolan Ryan Foundation and RS3 Turf to help fund the rebuilding of the Ingram Little League Fields. 

Tuesday’s game at Midland’s Momentum Bank Ballpark is set for 6:30 p.m. with starters to be announced.