Baseball America released their Top 100 Prospects list this morning. The industry’s longest running prospect rankings by a wide margin (they began publishing rankings in the 80’s for teams and then the first Top 100 in 1990) has a pretty good track record under their belt. In the latest rankings the Cincinnati Reds found themselves with three players on the list, headlined by 2026 National League Rookie of the Year frontrunner Sal Stewart. He’s joined on the list by both Alfredo Duno and Rhett Lowder.
The top prospect from the Reds organization, Sal Stewart showed up on the list at the #23 spot. The corner infielder is coming off of a breakout season in the minor leagues and a year in which he played the last month with the big league club.
After starting the year in Double-A, Stewart hit for a high average early on but his power didn’t come on until June when he hit six home runs. After the All-Star break he was moved up to Triple-A where he continued to hit for a high average and the power came with him, too, as he slugged .629 for Louisville in 38 games before being promoted to the big leagues in September to join the Reds. Down the stretch he played in 18 games and added another five home runs – giving him 25 on the season between the minors and majors in 136 games played. He would finish the season with a .907 OPS in the minors and an .839 mark in the big leagues.
Alfredo Duno was the next Reds prospect on the list, coming in as the 77th rated prospect on the list. He would spend his entire season in Single-A Daytona. The then 19-year-old catcher dominated the Florida State League’s offensive leaderboards. He was named the league MVP. He finished second in the league in average (.287). He then led the league in the following categories: Home runs (18), RBI (81), OBP (.430), SLG (.518), OPS (.948), doubles (32), walks (95), and runs scored (78).
Rhett Lowder has more than a year of big league service time. But a full year of that was gained while on the injured list for the entirety of the 2025 season. In terms of playing time and active service time he’s still eligible for the 2026 Rookie of the Year award and that makes him eligible for prospect lists. With that out of the way, Lowder comes in at the 79th spot on the list. That’s down from where he was entering 2025 by 53 spots, but the injury certainly plays into that somewhat.
Back in 2024, Lowder had a bit of a rough start to his time in Double-A. After his first 11 starts his ERA was sitting at 6.52 and he had allowed 65 hits in 48.1 innings and just couldn’t keep runs off of the board. But that led into the All-Star break and when he returned he just flat out dominated. He would make five more starts in Double-A, one more in Triple-A, and then finish out the year in Cincinnati. Lowder made 12 second half starts between the three levels and allowed six runs in 65.2 innings – good for an ERA of 0.82. He allowed just one home run during that time.
Note: I cover the Cincinnati Reds for Baseball America and have since 2019. I have no input whatesoever on the Reds prospect list or the top 100 list.
