{"id":507173,"date":"2026-01-06T01:03:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T01:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/507173\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T01:03:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T01:03:11","slug":"reds-top-prospects-suggest-future-is-especially-bright","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/507173\/","title":{"rendered":"Reds’ Top Prospects Suggest Future is Especially Bright"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cincinnati Reds<\/a> feature a number of young players with high ceilings. It is easy to forget that Elly De La Cruz is still only 23 years old. Today, however, we are going to take a look at three of the Reds’ top prospects and break down their skill sets, potential and MLB outlooks.<\/p>\n

Stewart, a 22-year-old versatile infielder, made his MLB debut in 2025. He was also the Reds’ top prospect<\/a> in 2025, per MLB.com.<\/p>\n

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Stewart is known for his hitting prowess, while his defensive versatility makes him an especially intriguing prospect. He’s developing as a power threat, and Stewart is a guy who could hit for a quality average at the big league level.<\/p>\n

Between Double-A and Triple-A in 2025, Stewart slashed .309\/.383\/.525 while also recording a .907 OPS and 20 home runs. His 18 MLB games saw him hit .255\/.293\/.545 with five home runs and an .838 OPS.<\/p>\n

He features the talent and potential to become the next star in Cincinnati.<\/p>\n

Duno, the No. 2 prospect for the Reds in 2025, is a 19-year-old catcher. With an MLB ETA of 2028, Duno is still working toward becoming big league ready. It would not be surprising to see him become the team’s catcher of the future down the road, though.<\/p>\n

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In 2025 at Single-A, Duno slashed .287\/.430\/.518 to go along with 18 home runs and a .948 OPS. While it was only Single-A ball, Duno is seemingly ready for the next level given his performance.<\/p>\n

While his offensive ability is clearly trending in the right direction, Duno’s throwing arm from behind the plate may be the best facet of his game. Opponents are going to have a difficult time attempting to steal bases with Duno as the backstop.<\/p>\n

Lewis, a 19-year-old shortstop who was the Reds’ No. 3 overall prospect in 2025, may have to switch positions at some point in the future with De La Cruz at shortstop with the MLB team. An athletic infielder who stands 6’2″, a position move would likely not be an issue for Lewis.<\/p>\n

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He has a good arm, but his defense is still a work-in-progress. Lewis is still progressing offensively, but his 2025 performance was impressive. He slashed .311\/.376\/.486 with an .862 OPS, nine home runs and 27 stolen bases at Single-A.<\/p>\n

Lewis is going to steal bases. The question is whether or not he will hit at a consistent enough level to become a star at the big league level. If he does turn into a respectable offensive presence, Lewis should have a bright future with the Reds moving forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cincinnati Reds feature a number of young players with high ceilings. It is easy to forget that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2400],"tags":[28321,5,535,50,4259,1177,4,727,536,6513],"class_list":["post-507173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cincinnati-reds","tag-alfredo-duno","tag-baseball","tag-cincinnati","tag-cincinnati-reds","tag-cincinnatireds","tag-elly-de-la-cruz","tag-mlb","tag-ops","tag-reds","tag-sal-stewart"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115845464463375337","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}