I do not get the impression that Tyson Lewis will be the #8 prospect in the Cincinnati Reds system this time next year. The freshly minted 20 year old spent his age-19 season split between the Arizona
Complex League and with the Daytona Tortugas in A-ball down in the Florida State League, turning heads with extreme exit velocities that ranked him among the hardest hitters of baseballs at any level of the pro game – including at the Major League level.
He also struck out over 35% of the time while with the Tortugas, and while that league is notoriously pitcher-friendly, that’s got more to do with the batted balls in play staying in the park than it does with some mystical ability to strike out more batters.
In other words, Lewis is either going to begin to sink, or begin to swim starting in 2026, when I assume he’ll be pushed up to High-A with Dayton. As he moves up levels, he’ll either show that his absurd raw power (and athleticism at short) is enough to cover his flaws, or the inability to simply put the ball in play often enough is going to tank him altogether. So, I’m going on the record right now in saying that he’ll either rank 1st on this list for 2027 or may not make it on it altogether, since his extremes – both good and bad – just don’t look like they’ve got much middle ground to me.
For now, though, he’s the runaway winner of spot #8 in this year’s Community Prospect Rankings, and that’s well deserved after a 2025 season that contained many more multitudes than simply saying he hit .311/.376/.486 in 351 PA split between two stops.
(For the record, I really hope he ends up #1 next year.)
