The Cincinnati Reds have a veritable baseball blaster on their AAA roster at the moment, the kind of potential offensive superstar that could help reshape a current lineup that’s fallen about as flat as possible.
For reference, the Reds are sporting a putrid 78 wRC+ so far in the month of August, the worst mark in all of baseball aside from the Cleveland Guardians. So, when you see Sal Stewart launching mammoth 460 foot homers for Louisville (as part of a greater two-dinger game), it’s hard not to
wonder what the Reds are doing by keeping him down in the minors while trying to chase a playoff spot.
Between AA and AAA this year, Sal’s slashing an absurd .309/.382/.524 with 19 dingers and 17 steals. At AAA since his promotion, that’s been an even better .317/.396/.650 mark (with 9 dingers in just 32 games).
Rosters officially expand on September 1st, though the reeling Reds offense can hardly wait another eight days before finding a way to not just get Sal onto the 40-man roster, but onto the active roster and in the lineup every single day.
That could be at 1B, where Spencer Steer has hit just .185/.270/.354 in 19 games this month.
It could be at 2B, where Matt McLain has posted an untenable .484 OPS in August across 56 PA.
Ke’Bryan Hayes, to his credit, has posted an .805 OPS in 68 PA so far in September, locking down 3B in a way that the Reds front office surely hoped for. The DH spot, though, is now firmly up for grabs, especially after Tyler Stephenson hit the shelf with his busted thumb.
Basically, there are currently infinite ways the Reds could get Sal’s bat into a lineup for a team that claims that they’re actively trying to make the 2025 playoffs yet are currently keeping one of the best hitting prospects they’ve had in years in AAA.
If it’s going to be the Reds time this year, it should damn well be Sal’s time right now.
