MLB names Stewart as the Reds top prospect, Lowder at #4

Photo: Minda Haas Kuhlmann. License here.

There have been several other national publications that have unveiled their Cincinnati Reds top prospects list. RedsMinorLeagues.com dropped the first list back in November after the season was over. Since then we’ve gotten lists from Baseball America ($$), Fangraphs, Baseball Prospectus ($$), and ESPN. Now that we’re into March, the crew at MLB.com is releasing their top 30’s for the new year and today the National League Central organizations were released, including the Reds list. You can see the overview write up for the list here from Jonathan Mayo, and the entire Top 30 list itself here.

Sal Stewart is at the top of the list for MLB.com. That’s not much of a surprise as it’s either been him or catcher Alfredo Duno at the top of the list for the organization everywhere else you looked. Stewart has been locked in at the plate so far this spring. After dropping 20-something pounds in the offseason and looking in the best shape he’s ever been as a professional, Stewart is hitting .429/.529/.929 with a double, two home runs, two stolen bases, and three walks in six games to get spring training started.

What was a little bit of a surprise on the list was seeing that Rhett Lowder was the team’s 4th rated prospect. After a strong debut back in 2024, Lowder missed the entire 2025 season with a few injuries before pitching in the Arizona Fall League after the regular season ended. He showed up this spring ready to go and through two outings he’s looked great, giving up just one run on two hits in 5.0 innings and striking out seven batters with two walks.

While Lowder has been behind Stewart and Duno, the surprise part on this list came from the other played ahead of him on this list: 2025’s 1st round pick Steele Hall. The infielder has tons of upside, but he’s also a guy who was the 9th overall pick in the draft out of high school and has yet to play a professional game. You’ve got to be incredibly high on Hall to put him ahead of Lowder who has big league experience, minor league dominance, was drafted higher just a few years ago, and is ready to play in the big leagues right now. But it seems that the crew over there is that high on the potential for Hall.

There were no other real big surprises on the list. What there was, though, was another nine guys that were in big league camp this spring on the list inside the top 21, and several others who were brought over from minor league camp to play in games so far.