Friar Futures Prospect Report: August 3, 2026
By Alex Martinez ·
Three Homers, Five Walks, Zero Doubt: Alex McCoy's Best Week Yet
Alex McCoy (A+, OF, Rank: 29) put together the most complete offensive week in his professional career, going 8-for-19 with three home runs, a double, six RBI, and five walks across 24 plate appearances for Fort Wayne. For a profile built around raw power and bat speed, this week makes the projection feel real. McCoy carries a fringe-average hit tool and a 50 power grade, but the numbers at High-A this season tell a more aggressive story: 15 home runs, 26 doubles, and 19 stolen bases through 91 games, with a .481 slugging percentage that few in this system can match. His approach has been a legitimate concern, with 103 strikeouts through those 91 games, but this week the five walks alongside the five punchouts suggest at least a momentary truce between his power-hunting tendencies and the strike zone.
The honest read on McCoy is still a 4/5 bench bat who shuttles between Triple-A and the big leagues, a corner outfielder whose profile lives or dies by the power output. He hit .315/.393/.521 across 58 games at Low-A last season, and the step up to High-A has come with expected contact friction. Over the last 30 days he is hitting .266/.356/.430 with three homers, which is a steady if unspectacular pace, making this past week a genuine spike rather than a sustained hot stretch. Still, at 24 years old with 15 home runs and 19 steals at A+, the floor of an organizational depth piece with periodic big-league value feels increasingly conservative. The strikeout rate remains the variable that will determine which version of McCoy shows up next year at Double-A.
The Quiet Ascent: Ethan Salas Makes His Triple-A Debut Count
Ethan Salas (AAA, C, Rank: 1) went 6-for-18 with three doubles, a triple, five RBI, and six walks at El Paso this past week, and the optics of his debut at Triple-A could not have gone better. He is a 20-year-old catcher with a plus arm, plus defensive grades, and a makeup that scouts consistently rave about, and now he owns a .357/.500/.714 line through four games at the game's highest minor league level. The small sample caveat applies heavily here, but Salas's broader 2026 arc at Double-A San Antonio already had him posting a .286/.361/.417 line with 33 walks against 48 strikeouts in 300 plate appearances, a contact profile that lines up with his 50 hit tool and speaks to real progress in timing and pitch recognition. Over the last 30 days at Double-A he hit .317/.416/.444, carrying six doubles and a triple in 77 plate appearances with 12 walks and only 16 strikeouts, easily the cleanest stretch of his young career.
The power will come with physical maturity; the swing path and current strength level produce line drives and doubles rather than home runs, with seven on the year. That is a realistic developmental curve for a catcher who turned 20 in February. His defense already graded as a carrying tool, and the offensive floor is rising. A late-2026 or early-2027 major league call is not a stretch if the contact rates hold, and given how the Padres are positioned behind the plate at the big-league level, the door may open sooner than most systems would allow. The version of Salas that could show up in San Diego within the next 12 months is a premium defensive catcher with a workable bat, and that alone makes him a legitimate everyday player.
Quick Hits
- Braedon Karpathios (AA, OF, Rank: 33) · drove in 6 on 7 hits, including two home runs, across 23 plate appearances last week. His walk rate has dipped recently as his power output has climbed; over the last 30 days he is slashing .276/.317/.487 with five homers in 82 plate appearances, a notable shift from the discipline-heavy profile that defined him earlier this year. Through 93 games at Double-A, he owns 11 home runs and 45 walks on the season, so the plate patience is still real, but the strikeout total of 120 remains a legitimate obstacle for a profile that profiles as a utility outfielder. This recent power stretch at least gives the bat a different dimension to argue with.
- Truitt Madonna (A, C, Rank: 22) · went 4-for-15 with a homer, a double, three RBI, and three walks in 20 plate appearances, a week that came on the heels of his assignment from the ACL Padres up to Lake Elsinore on July 25. The promotion gives context to the line; he stepped right into full-season ball and produced some contact and power despite the jump. At 19 years old with a 35 hit tool and a combined .217/.332/.342 line in 335 plate appearances this year, Madonna is a long developmental project, and the last 30 days have been rough: a .125 average in 59 plate appearances at Low-A. The positive spin is that he has 13 steals, 46 walks, and 20 doubles on the season, tools that exist around the contact struggles. The hit tool has a long way to go before the rest of the profile becomes relevant at higher levels.
- Eric Yost (AA, RHP, Rank: 28) · allowed 3 earned runs on 4 hits over 5 innings, finishing with just 2 strikeouts and 1 walk. It is a forgettable line on its own, but context matters: his Double-A ERA sits at 3.27 through 71.2 innings, one of the better marks at that level for a pitch-to-contact arm without overpowering stuff. His plus curveball and average sweeper give him a workable two-breaker mix, and his command grade is average rather than elite, which shows in the 43 walks at Double-A this year. The brief Triple-A cup last month (5 earned in 3.1 innings) was a reality check, but the sustained Double-A production over 13 starts is a stronger data set. He is a back-end starter ceiling with legitimate rotation innings in his arm.
- Lan-Hong Su (A, RHP, Rank: 19) · struck out 3 over 3.2 innings of one-run ball, allowing 2 hits and 1 walk in his most encouraging outing in weeks. The 19-year-old righty owns a combined 5.93 ERA through 30.1 innings split between the ACL and Low-A, with four home runs and loose command doing most of the damage. His fastball sits 91-94 with a plus slider as his best secondary, and the projection is real if the body fills out and the changeup develops. For now, this was a step in the right direction after some hard-contact outings; the ERA at Low-A of 7.98 over six starts is the number that needs addressing before anyone gets too excited about the developmental track.