Sunday links!
Back in February, future Hall of Fame 3B Manny Machado had this to say about a certain Cincinnati Reds prospect:
“Hell yeah, that’s my protégé. I’ve been training with him for like eight years,” Machado said. “He’s the best hitter in the Minor Leagues, absolutely. I haven’t seen all of them obviously. And I know him personally. But I know swings.”
As MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon noted at the time, Machado went on to gush about said prospect’s abilities, noting how he uses the entire field and has an eye at the plate that left Machado in awe.
That prospect? Sal Stewart, the 32nd overall pick by the Reds in the 2022 MLB Draft who just yesterday appeared in the All-Star Futures Game. He’s been absolutely destroying the ball for AA Chattanooga during this season’s first half and, as Doug Gray of Reds Minor Leagues relayed, Sal will now be on the AAA Louisville Bats.
Stewart is more than worthy of said promotion having hit .306/.377/.473 with a .400 wOBA and 146 wRC+ through the first 80 games with the Lookoutus. His walk rate is oddly down to just 8.2% (after ranging from 13.7% to 17.1% in his other full-year stints in the minors), buut his K% still sits at just 15.5%. He’s an elite hitting prospect with a keen ability to hit any pitch anywhere, the lone remaining thing left to figure out with him being where he lines up on defense.
He’s been a 3B mostly this season after playing plenty of 2B in years prior, but the good news is that his glove’s versatility means the Reds will be able to find a way for him to be in the lineup pretty much regardless of who else is ready to roll that day. Oddly enough, that’s a scenario I called for back in March in my annual Five Dumb Predictions for the Reds.
Sal will now be teammates with Christian Encarnacion-Strand, too. CES was optioned back to AAA yesterday due basically to being lapped at 1B by Spencer Steer and at 3B by Noelvi Marte, his other skills not really suited to being a late-game replacement. Jake Fraley was activated after receiving a cortisone shot in his shoulder, and while I will always enjoy the heck out of the way Fraley plays the game you can color me 1000000% worried that he’s just going to be a banged-up shell of himself for the rest of the season until he opts to get that thing totally fixed.
Finally, the MLB Draft begins tonight at 6 PM ET, with rounds 1-3 taking place this evening. You’ll have three broadcast options to view the action, as each of ESPN, MLB Network, and MLB.com will have coverage. The Cincinnati Reds hold pick #9 in the 1st round, and while there are obviously a litany of different ways the 1st round could shake out, both Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB Pipeline have the Reds selecting C/OF Ike Irish out of Auburn University in their final mock draft of the year.
(Rounds 4-20 will take place tomorrow beginning at 11:30 PM ET, with the only broadcast coverage via MLB.com.)