Hall could buck Reds' recent trend for shortstops

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- The Reds have a recent history of sending talented shortstops to the Arizona Complex League to begin their first full season, having done that with Tyson Lewis and Sammy Stafura (now with the Pirates) in each of the last two springs.

But neither of those prospects was the ninth overall pick in the Draft. Steele Hall, now in his first Spring Training, was that selection last July when he was only 17.

Balancing the desire to get a top talent started on a successful foot and exposing him to the correct challenge for his ceiling level factors into the debates on the backfields of Goodyear.

“We try to treat every player as an individual and think of what's best for that player at that given time going into the season,” said Reds director of player development Jeremy Farrell. “We're still having discussions on where Steele may start the season, but we've got time. We're starting games today [Wednesday]. We'll see how things play out, but we're going to do what we think is in the best interest of him.

“We say it all the time. It's not where you start the season, it's where you end the season. So we'll continue to have those discussions.”

After a college visit to Tennessee, Hall reclassified to move up a year to the Class of 2025, making him one of the youngest eligible players in last year’s Draft. When the Reds took him ninth overall, amateur scouting director Joe Katuska noted that they thought Hall could have gone first in '26 had he stuck to the original schedule.

His plus-plus speed and defense at short draw the biggest raves. While his 5-foot-10 frame is slender now, scouts can dream of him adding heft and strength in the coming years to provide impact at the plate. Farrell doesn’t have to dream to see a ton in Hall’s game already.

“With the way he goes about his business, you wouldn't think that he's 18,” Farrell said. “He's held his own in the Major League games that he's gone over and backed up and gotten into. The agility, the speed, the way he uses his hands -- both in the box and on defense -- there's a lot to be excited about.”

If the Reds were to buck recent trends and send Hall to Single-A Daytona to begin the regular season, that could create another conundrum.

Lewis seems likely to return to the Florida State League, considering he struck out in 35.4 percent of his plate appearances over 35 games there after a promotion in 2025. The 2024 second-rounder also has a promising ceiling with above-average power potential, plus speed and a 55-grade arm.

Foreseeing Hall and Lewis eventually butting into each other, whether it be with Daytona or further up the chain, the Reds got the latter looks at third base during last year’s instructional league. That continues this spring; four of Lewis’ five defensive appearances in the Cactus League have been at the hot corner, and he was at third for the start of backfield games against the Brewers last Wednesday.

Nothing is official in mid-March, but if the Reds want to provide two of their best infield prospects the right tests out of the gate in 2026, they’re creating the pathways to make it happen. It looks like those pathways could lead to the same Florida State League dirt.

“It is a challenge,” Farrell said. “It is a challenge within our organization with our player acquisition strategy, but it's a good challenge. We're finding ways to get guys on the field as often as possible.”

Camp standout: Sal Stewart (No. 1, MLB No. 22)

Stewart just hits. He proved that last season in his climb to the Majors and then proceeded to paint his Baseball Savant page red in The Show with five homers, a .545 slugging percentage and an .839 OPS during his 18 games with Cincinnati.

That hasn’t stopped this spring with the Opening Day first-base job on the line. Entering Sunday, the right-handed slugger has produced a .345/.472/.586 line with two homers, seven walks and five strikeouts across 12 games in the Cactus League. Each of his dingers had exit velocities above 107 mph, and after he maxed out with a 112.6 mph homer in the bigs last year, there’s likely more in the tank, too.

It’s safe to say the first-base job is his, barring injury, ahead of a potential NL Rookie of the Year campaign.

“From Day One of him being a young high-school hitter in A ball, he has wanted to be a hitter first,” Farrell said. “As he's gotten a little bit older, he's gotten a little bit stronger, he's worked on his body, the power has started to come, and it's come naturally. He's not chasing it. He's picking his spots, and while doing so, he hasn't lost the ability to be a complete hitter, to use the whole field, to go the other way with two strikes.”

Breakout potential: Sheng-En Lin (No. 11)

The Reds signed Lin for $1.2 million out of Taiwan in June 2023 and have tried multiple different routes with him: hitting only in 2023 and '24, hitting and pitching to begin 2025, pitching only by the time he reached Daytona last August.

The 20-year-old right-hander will stick to the mound exclusively in 2026, and an offseason of singular focus followed by his work this spring could unlock another level in his potential. He already showed great ride of 18-20 inches on his fastball, which helped it play above its 90-93 mph velocity. Work will continue to find exactly what secondaries will work best for the 5-foot-11 hurler, who only walked 7.8 percent of his batters faced last year, at the upper levels, but he’ll have more time to dedicate to that this summer and beyond.

“He has a natural ability to pitch,” Farrell said. “I don't want to call him [Reds No. 4 prospect] Rhett Lowder or anything like that, but it's similar in the sense that he's not going to overpower you with 98-100 [mph]. He’s going to add and subtract. He has a feel for a changeup and a split. He's going to throw strikes. He's going to read swings. So it's kind of a traditional approach in a sense.”

Something to prove: Edwin Arroyo (No. 8)

A former Top 100 prospect, Arroyo has long held a decent floor because of his glovework in the middle of the dirt. His graceful actions and plus arm should play at shortstop, but the Reds also introduced second base to him last year ahead of his Rule 5 eligibility. A torn left labrum robbed him of a regular season in 2024, and perhaps because of that injury, he took a step back in power last season, hitting only three homers while slugging .371 in 120 games at Double-A Chattanooga.

The Reds protected Arroyo from the Rule 5 Draft with a 40-man roster spot anyway, and he got some international exposure with a spot on Puerto Rico’s World Baseball Classic roster. But now that he’s headed back to Goodyear, the switch-hitter will have to find an offensive identity if he’s going to push for Cincy in his age-22 campaign.

“We’re hoping he can continue to understand who he is as a hitter and stay within himself and his approach and find ways to get on base,” Farrell said. “If he's hitting at the top of the order, be a table-setter, get on base, wreak havoc on the bases and score runs. That’ll be him coming into his own and understanding who he is as an offensive player. I’m excited to watch him continue to grow there.”