Reds might be setting Tyson Lewis up for a familiar and frustrating problem

It seemed like a long wait for Cincinnati Reds' 2024 second-round pick Tyson Lewis to make his pro debut, but once he arrived, he put on quite the show. An explosive combination of power and speed, the Millard West High School product split his time nearly evenly between the Arizona Complex League and Single-A Daytona last season.

Lewis put together a combined .311/.376/.486 line with nine homers and 27 stolen bases. That sent him surging up the prospect leaderboards. MLB Pipeline has the youngster coming in at No. 3 among the top prospects in the Reds organization.

The newly minted 20-year-old is part of what has become a borderline obsession for Cincinnati as the club seems to stop at nothing in its attempt to collect as many talented young shortstop prospects as possible.

To a degree, it's a solid draft strategy. Typically, the best athletes on the field line up at short, so if injecting athleticism into the system is the goal, there might not be a better path forward. However, that only works to a point. Acquire too many and you arrive at a bottleneck that could threaten development, and we're seeing the Reds get close to crossing the line between tactical team building and obsession now.

The Reds need to consider other defensive homes for Tyson Lewis in order to capitalize on his potential

Lewis had his share of highlight reel moments at the plate in 2025, but if the Reds want him to continue to rise, they might consider moving him off of short. He's rangy and has a strong arm, but his hands and actions at short are things that could use a lot of polishing.

While many are excited about Lewis's offensive potential, not all are completely sold. FanGraph's prospect guru Eric Longenhagen noted the whiff concerns in his profile as evidenced by his paltry 63% contact rate contact rate last season.

If Lewis is to reach his ceiling, he'll need to work hard to clean up the holes in his swing, and that might be easier if he doesn't also need to worry about polishing his performance at shortstop.

With blazing speed and a cannon for an arm, one has to wonder if the outfield wouldn't be the best place for Lewis long-term. There, he wouldn't need to worry as much about transitioning from catch to throw and instead could let his physical gifts take over and become a plus-defender.

Such a move would also alleviate playing time concerns as he advances and runs into older prospects like Edwin Arroyo and Leo Balcazar, as well as clearing the way for even younger gems like Steele Hall and Liberts Aponte.

The draft-a-bunch-of-shortstops-to capitalize-on-athletic-traits strategy only works if those gifts are fully unlocked, and part of that is the positional versatility it provides. On top of that, these youngsters will only reach their ceilings with regular reps. In the case of Lewis, thanks to the holes in his game, he seems to be the poster child for moving off the position, being the best-case scenario for him. Now it's on the Reds to make the right choice for his development, as well as the development of the other shortstops in the system.