This under-the-radar Reds prospect continues to impress after promotion

The Cincinnati Reds farm system is incredibly deep.

Drew Koch

Cincinnati Reds prospect Sal Stewart at MLB All-Star Week / Matt Dirksen/Colorado Rockies/GettyImages

The Cincinnati Reds are loaded with top prospects. Fans have already seen the likes of Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz, and Christian Encarnacion-Strand make their major league debuts in 2023. Unfortunately for the rest of the NL Central, the Reds aren't running low on young talent.

Last summer, the Reds were able to secure Cam Collier in Round 1 of the MLB Draft after the high school standout inexplicably dropped to No. 17. But the Reds received a compensatory pick last year as well after losing Nick Castellanos during free agency.

Sal Stewart was selected with pick No. 32 in the 2022 MLB Draft, and the 19-year-old has been on fire all season. Recently, Stewart was promoted from Low-A Daytona to High-A Dayton, and ther results have been the same.

Under-the-radar Reds prospect Sal Stewart continues to impress after promotion.

The Cincinnati Reds took a risk when they drafted Sal Stewart last year. Stewart was committed to play college baseball at Vanderbilt, and it's not often that team's are able to pry potential commits away from head coach Tim Corbin and the Commodores.

But the Reds, even with an under-slot deal, were able to secure Stewart's services. The Reds talent evaluators fell in love with Stewart's raw tools. The power is there, no doubt. But many scouts wondered if he would be another in a long line of power-over-hit prospects?

So far, Stewart has been tremendous. After hitting .269/.395/.424 in 88 games with the Daytona Tortugas, the Cincinnati Reds decided that it was time for Stewart to see a new level of competition.

Sal Stewart has been in High-A since early-August, and the early returns are quite impressive. Stewart is slashing .283/.374/.359 with a wRC+ of 111 according to FanGraphs. While the power hasn't broken through yet, Stewart's plate discipline is on full display. Stewart has a walk-rate of 11.2-percent and strikeout-rate of just 14.0-percent.

Stewart currently checks in as the Cincinnati Reds 7th-ranked prospect according to MLB Pipeline. But don't be surprised if Stewart and fellow 2023 draftee Cam Collier are both Top 100 prospects heading into next season.

Drew Koch

Drew Koch has been an MLB Staff Writer since January 2024 and part of the FanSided Network since June 2018. Drew's contributions have been published on Blog Red Machine, Friars on Base, BoSox Injection, Lombardi Avenue, Wildcat Blue Nation, Motor City Bengals, and many other sites within the FanSided Network. When he's not cheering wildly for the Cincinnati Reds or the Kentucky Wildcats, Drew enjoys fishing, golfing, playing cribbage and other card games, listening to country and classical music, and spending time with his family and friends.