These 3 Reds prospects have big year ahead of them

This story was excerpted from Mark Sheldon’s Reds Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CINCINNATI -- After making the postseason using several players developed in their own system, the Reds will obviously seek to keep their progress moving towards bigger and better outcomes.

Although there will be much discussion about external players who can help Cincinnati -- either from other clubs via trade or free agents -- the front office will also continue to look within at player development for prospects who can improve the big league team.

With that in mind, here are three Reds prospects to watch for 2026.

1B/3B Sal Stewart (No. 1 prospect, No. 31 overall according to MLB Pipeline)

The 21-year-old Stewart is already a familiar face to Reds fans after a successful debut month in the Major Leagues, which included two postseason games vs. the Dodgers in which he had two hits and four RBIs.

In his 18 regular-season games with Cincinnati, Stewart batted .255 with an .838 OPS while leading the club in September with five homers.

“He spent a month in the big leagues. He spent a month and change at Triple-A. There’s a lot of development there," president of baseball operations Nick Krall said. "It’s continuing to take good at-bats. It’s continuing to be a big league player offensively. It’s learning how to play defense at different positions. We moved him to first base, and it was something he played very sparingly in August and September. It’s learning how to grow his whole game.

"He’s a 21-year-old kid who rocketed through the system and dominated in Double-A, Triple-A and got this callup. He’s going to have to come in and earn a spot next year just like everybody else.”

Drafted 32nd overall as a third baseman in the 2022 Draft, Stewart played first base professionally for the first time with Triple-A Louisville and soon after debuted there for the Reds. His rawness at the position was evident, including a costly throwing error that contributed to a four-run sixth inning from the Dodgers in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series in L.A. He will work in the offseason at first base and might also get some reps in winter ball.

The Reds have seen prospects have one good month and struggle to follow it up the next season. Noelvi Marte and Christian Encarnacion-Strand are two examples.

Stewart is not a finished product and will need to show improvement to make the team.

“The first goal for every prospect is to get to the big leagues. You hear it all the time -- staying here is a lot harder than getting here. I think there’s a lot of truth to that," general manager Brad Meador said. "But getting better once you do get here is a big part of that and making adjustments. It’s a different game here."

SS Edwin Arroyo (No. 8 prospect)

Arroyo had an entire season of development wiped out in 2024 because of a left shoulder injury that required surgery. But the 22-year-old rebounded well in 2025 and turned in a respectable year.

In 120 games at Double-A Chattanooga, the switch-hitting Arroyo batted .284/.345/.371 with three home runs, 44 RBIs and 12 stolen bases.

“I think the one thing to look at with Arroyo is that over the course of each month, his exit velocity went up a little bit," Krall said. "There’s more consistency. We talk about this all the time. The year and a half to two years with shoulders and wrists [after major surgeries], they’re really hard. For hitters, it just takes them a while to get back to where they were. And it looked like, slowly but surely, he was getting back to where he was over the course of the year.”

It's likely that Arroyo will open 2026 at Louisville. Of course, he is blocked at shortstop in the big leagues by two-time All-Star Elly De La Cruz. There has long been speculation that De La Cruz could one day move to center field -- especially after he led the Majors in errors for the second consecutive year, but there are no plans to move him.

“As of right now, no," Krall said.

What that means for Arroyo -- should he become deserving of one final promotion -- could be an interesting storyline for the Reds next season.

1B Cam Collier (No. 6 prospect, No. 94 overall)

After hitting 20 homers with a .798 OPS at High-A Dayton in 2024, Collier endured some bad luck in '25 that affected his production. The lefty hitter tore a ligament in his left thumb during Spring Training and missed the first six weeks of the season. It took him a while to get going, and he hit a combined four homers in 95 games at multiple levels -- including only two over his 74 games at Double-A.

Overall, in 95 games, he batted .279 with a .775 OPS.

"It was very frustrating, but it's part of baseball," Collier told MLB.com's Jim Callis on Oct. 7. "I also know that every failure eventually ends with a success. The thumb bothered me at the beginning, and it was Double-A and an adjustment period getting used to the older arms. At the end of the day, I got better."

• Now fully healthy, Reds No. 6 prospect Collier stands out in Fall League debut

Collier doesn't turn 21 until November and already has four professional seasons under his belt since he was selected by the Reds in the first round of the 2022 Draft. He's currently playing in the Arizona Fall League, which is helping make up for lost at-bats, and he was batting .200/.368/.267 through his first four games with the Peoria Javelinas.