2245 - 2026 Cincinnati Reds Top Prospects

The following players are discussed:

1. Sal Stewart (3B)
2. Afredo Duno (C)
3. Rhett Lowder (RHP)
4. Steele Hall (SS)
5. Tyson Lewis (OF)
6. Cam Collier (3B)
7. Hector Rodriguez (OF)
8. Chase Petty (RHP)
9. Ricky Cabrera (3B)
10. Edwin Arroyo (SS)

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good afternoon everyone. It is October ninth, about one o'clock
in the afternoon, doing a Prospect podcast here. This will
go out for everyone for the top ten Cincinnati Reds,
and then I'll extend it for all twenty for our
Patreon members. So we did the Cubs last week, we

(00:21):
did the Reds on Tuesday. We've got a lot of
positive feedback. I'm glad you guys like the new format,
and it seems like a lot of people like the
tearing and kind of the AI kind of pieces in there.
I'm really really happy with it, and I haven't gotten
any real feedback on the writing being better. But I

(00:43):
have the AI engine editing all of my this tightening
things up and making sure that they're all consistent, and
I feel really really good about that, so very very
happy with the end product. I know they're longer, so
a little bit longer to read get through everything, and
they do get it even a little longer. It's as
I really got into the process, you know, after we

(01:06):
get out of the National League Central so about five
thousand words for each specific system. I do have a
bit of a writer's block at the moment. I just
I haven't written anything in about a week. I just
I've got the West to finish up, and I just
just lost all motivation. So I've actually been watching a

(01:26):
lot of the playoffs, which have been very, very good,
so hopefully you've enjoyed that. I've also been watching Severance,
so I have avoided watching that show. My son, who
is thirty four so just loves it and said, you
got to watch it. You got to watch it. It's great,
and I've made it my wife and I've made it
through the first six episodes of the first season, or

(01:48):
maybe the first five episodes, and I understand what's going on.
I just don't get it. And I think that's kind
of a part of not getting it. So if you
really like the show, tell me to hang in, because
I I feel like I want to bail here very soon.
It feels a lot like Lost, and I did not
like that. Just not my genre. So I was talking
to my son last night, I'm like, when are we

(02:09):
going to find out? Like what's really going on? Like
what does this Lumen company do? And you know what
is what is? And he goes, well, that's part of
the genres that is it's a mystery that all that
stuff's not been revealed. I don't know if I've got
the patience to make it through years of like with
lost and I think when they finally told you what happened,

(02:32):
a lot of people were disappointed. So anyway, watching that
intermixed with some postseason baseball, anyway, let's get on to
the Cincinnati Reds. Yeah, I will say, just right off
the bat, if we take a look at the tearing,

(02:54):
the AI engine puts ou Stewart one, Cam Collier two,
and Alfredo Duno number three. I had it Stewart to know.
I didn't have camp Callier until I think ranked him fifth,
so i'd had a chat No. Six. I had a
chat with my assistant, like, you know what you're thinking
of putting camp Caller that high. I remember, my assistant

(03:15):
only knows what I have taught him, which is all
of my knowledge and then obviously the knowledge of how
to scout and so forth. And I think when it
gets down to it, he loves the twenty five home
run upside and his ability to get on base, and
I think that's why he's moved him up. I think
it's a lower risk as opposed to some of the

(03:36):
other guys having front of him and Cruiting Steel Hall
and Tyson Lewis, which are kind of home runs, if
you will, but potential bus guys. And I can kind
of understand why Callyer was ranked a little bit higher
by the assistant because I've started to change my thought process.
It'll be interesting the AI engine should change his thought

(03:57):
process as well that I've started to look at guys
that have a little bit higher ceiling and give them
a little bit more juice and just trying to kind
of learn as we kind of go through this process.
I mean, you can't in a dynasty league. You can't
have you know, everybody the Tyson Lewis's of the world

(04:18):
all ranked, you know, on the top, you know, all
on your team because you've got to have some high
floor guys as well. You can't have all high ceiling
dudes because many of the high ceiling guys never make it,
So you've got to have a mix of that. And
I guess he's just thinking that Cam Collier is a
guy that's going to be a full time major league,
which I think he is, and maybe he should be

(04:41):
a little bit higher than six. So I just put
some of these high upside guys in front of them,
but at the top of the list is Sal Stewart.
I think he's going to move the first base. That
is my belief. And when he was up for his
September call up, he was playing mostly first base. I
always believe that there would be power. We've never seen

(05:03):
tremendous power in the minor leagues. And then he gets
up to the major leagues, hits five home runs in
a month, and I took a look at his baseball Savanteta.
I mean, it's it's crazy stuff is average e x
velocity was ninety five point four in his max exits
one twelve point six with a seventeen point nine degree
launch angle. I mean, that's that's big boy power. That's

(05:24):
thirty plus home run popera there, maybe even more so.
I'm not sure why the statistically, he really didn't show
it in the minor leagues, but I always knew it
was there because the eggs of velocities are very high end,
and we're seeing it, you know right here. You know,
I don't think his average x velosit he's going to
be ninety five miles an hour. It's probably gonna be
in the ninety ninety one. I think He's a twenty

(05:46):
five to thirty home run guy, a little bit more
launched than I would have predicted when he was sitting
in the minor leagues, but a very very good ballplayer.
I think he's going to hit. You know, it's I'm
not I'm not going to say that, you know he's
going to be a three hund hit or by any
stretch of the imagination, but I think the ceiling is

(06:07):
an all star and he's it's going to be a
nice kind of that Michael Bush, hopefully without the without
the platoon splits, kind of that. Sal Stewart falling into
a Michael Bush type of role. Good power, good batting average,
on base percentage, very little speed, afraid to Duno comes

(06:27):
in at number two. He was one of the high
end international signees. Was it twenty twenty four, I believe,
and I was hurt most of the city must have
been twenty twenty three most of the season. He was
hurt last last year, came back really strong this year.
I think not only is he strong defensively, but there's

(06:51):
you know, number one starter fantasy catcher upside here, and
I think there's going to be big boy power. I
think he's and a never I mean hitters is very
rarely hit for high average, but I think it's two
fifty two sixty and with twenty plus home run pop.
So he's one of the I know in dynasty leagues.

(07:12):
It's tough to roster Dominican Summer league catchers or even
low A catchers, but Alfredo Dunaou is going to be
in High A next season. So all of a sudden,
we're looking at twenty twenty seven as his ETA. Maybe
twenty twenty eight, but I've got it at twenty twenty
seven because I do think there's a good chance he

(07:34):
sees High A in Double A next season and then
probably start with Double A and be up in Triple
A in twenty twenty seven. So I think there's a
really reasonable chance that we see him kind of in
that sam Samuelbasaia kind of time frame that we saw
him this season. I think that's what we might see
in Alfredo Duneau in twenty twenty seven. Rhett Lauder comes

(07:58):
in at number three and trip again mostly a lost season.
I think he should have been up in the big leagues,
but started the season on the il of the forearms. Strange,
just with four outings and an obleague strain. You know,
he did get a chance to play late in the season.
I don't know if he's playing in the fally. I
can't remember if he's on that roster or not. But

(08:19):
it's it's good stuff. I mean, it's a potential to
be a number three starter. Was I think the number
fourth overall pick couple in twenty twenty three or two, so,
I mean, you know, well thought of the at the
draft table, and fastball's up the ninety six. So it's
I think a very very interesting guy that we're going

(08:40):
to see a lot of next season. I don't think
he'll be going early in player drafts. You know, just
won year leagues in two thousand for twenty twenty six.
He might be a guy that you might want to
jump on if you can get him late. Number four
is Steel Hall, which was the Red's first round pick.
He did not play high school kid eighty great speed,

(09:04):
there's good power there. The question is is you make
enough contact to get to all of his tools. I
actually think I've got him pretty high, so I think
he is for more. I learned about him and talk
to amateur scouts who saw him a lot going to
the perfect games that I mean, the tools are definitely
going to play, and they believe that he will hit enough.

(09:28):
And again it's never going to be a three hundred hitter,
but if he can hit two forty two fifty with
a low three hundred and one base percentage, that should
be good enough for all of his secondary tools to play,
and they could be very, very loud secondary tools, which
means high end fantasy relevance. I think Tyson Lewis is
a very similar type of player. Maybe I should have

(09:50):
had Tyson Lewis in front of Steele Hall. I mean,
you can make that argument because Tyson Lewis at least
has done it in professional ball for a season. Just
you know, you're hearing crazy reports coming out one hundred
and nineteen mile an hour exit velocities. I don't have
any of that on Baseball Savant data because it wasn't there,
so it's probably more under Sentergy data, which is pretty good.

(10:14):
But even if it's not one hundred nineteen, comes out
one hundred and seventeen. That's serious, serious ex velocity. And
a guy who's going to hit a lot of home runs,
we already know he's an eighty grade runner. So I've
rostered him several Dynasty leagues because somebody that has that
level of tools needs to be rostered. Now, the problem
is he's going to hit enough, and we just don't
know that. But I think with his with his tools

(10:40):
is the reason that you need to be rostering him.
Wheready mentioned Cam Callier. I think there's a really good
chance that we see him next season. I mean, where
does he play. It's kind of the same positions as
the same positions that Sal Stewart is playing, so there
could be a bit of a crunch there. And given

(11:01):
all of the players, including Novallo Marteo I think has
moved to the outfield, it is still crowded with all
these young players in the Cincinnati Reds. But I think
Collier and Sam south Stewart are going to be good
enough to play full time. I think south Stewart's going
to be a full time guy out of the shoot
and would be a guy that I might be targeting

(11:23):
and early in early NFBC draft and hold leagues, because
you know, I don't know if his big September call
up was enough to really push him up, but he
might be an interesting guy for a corner quarner infielder
that you can get relatively late camp. Collier might be
a guy that in those draft and hold leagues that

(11:43):
you're getting in the forties. You know, I don't think
he's going to be a big name that you need
to go any earlier than that, but assuming he can
stay healthy, you should see him next season. Number seven
is Hector Rodriguez, who's a guy that I've always liked,
and I got really excited over the summertime because he
was walking a lot more. It's a guy who has
never walked at all, and we were seeing walk rates

(12:05):
in the nine percent. Well, he's kind of turned back
to his old ways once he got promoted up to
Triple A and you know, got back to swing it
at everything. So he wound up with a walk rate
of six point six. I still wrote that that was
an improvement, a significant improvement. It's usually a walk rate
of like four percent. But it makes really good contact,
and you see that a lot with guys that make

(12:26):
great contact, they just don't walk walk that often because
they can make such great contact, and it could be
that with Hector Rodriguez. But look, it's above average power,
it's good speed, I think there's fifteen to fifteen type
of outfield, and I think there's there is an upside
with that. I kind of like Hector Rodriguez and a

(12:47):
kid that was that was rostered a lot in Diyna
Sea leagues a few years ago but really fell off.
Might be a guy that I'm looking at in these
first year player drafts. I know, in our first year
player dress what we call supplemental drafts and our dying leagues,
you can draft anybody that's in the player pool, provided
they've been signed before the draft kicks off, and that's

(13:09):
usually ninety nine point nine percent. Sometimes you get an
international guy that signs after the draft starts. So I
think Yeriol Rodriguez is one of those guys a couple
of years ago. But if Hector Rodriguez is floating around
on my waiveward, it's the guy that I might be
trying to add in those supplemental drafts. Coming to number
eight is Chase Petty Saw. I'm in the major leagues.

(13:33):
I think this guy's eventually just going to move to
be a bullpen arm. It's a ninety six min hour fastball. Uh,
you know it's that I think the control was always
going to be problematic, which is why I think he
moves to the bullpen. But I mean it's closer upside.
So Chase Petty is a is a very interesting guy. Now.

(13:55):
I know Tim. Tim played in a weird league where
he I think was an All rookie league or something
where and I think Chase Petty was one of the
guys that he rostered. Hopefully didn't put him in why
he came up because he absolutely got torched and annihilated.
But it's a good arm. I just think he moves
to the bullpen. Number nine is Ricky Cabrera. Power speed tools,

(14:20):
pitch recognition concerns, you know, two point seven million dollars
signing bonus in twenty twenty two out of the Dominican
So he is kind of beginning shout start the season
in double A. I mean, is he going to make
enough contact? I think that's that's the concern that we have.
But again it's it's pretty interesting fantasy tools there. So

(14:41):
Ricky Cabrera is another guy gets a pretty strong system.
You know, you've got South Stewart and if you want
to say that camp call, you're kind of high floor,
low risk kind of guys. There's a lot of really
interesting high ceiling dudes with steel Hall Tyson Lewis. I

(15:04):
guess Hector Rodriguez is more of a more of a
high floor kind of guy. Enrika Cabrera and Edward Rory
a number ten is another one of these guys you
look terrible after shoulder surgery that I think have plenty
of tools. But back to Cabrera, I mean, it's another
guy that we should know a lot going into twenty
twenty six seasons. He going to hit enough. If he can,

(15:28):
there could be gold there. If not, then it probably
is the guy you throw out on the scrap heap.
And Edwin and Rory is a really disappointing season. Came
back after shoulder surgery and I don't know if it
was his lingering. I don't know if he had trouble
knocking off the rust for whatever reason. He just did
not perform well at all. So he's likely going to

(15:48):
repeat double A again. I was a really well thought
up prospect, at least from my perspective coming into the
twenty twenty four season, but we need to assuming he
comes into into camp healthy, we should know a lot
more In two thousand and twenty six, so that is
our top ten. I appreciate the people that are getting

(16:14):
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(16:37):
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