Report: Cincinnati Reds Top Prospect Being Promoted To Triple-A Louisville

Cincinnati Reds third-ranked prospect Sal Stewart is on the move, according to Charlie Goldsmith. Stewart will join Triple-A Louisville after his appearance in the MLB Futures Game on Saturday.

The 21-year-old prospect is having a great season so far through 80 games in Double-A Chattanooga, slashing .306/.377/.473 with 10 home runs. More importantly, he has been healthy; he only played in 80 games in all of 2024.

The Reds selected Stewart with the 32nd overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft. He was a compensatory pick from Nick Castellanos signing with the Philadelphia Phillies. The young man has always had a good eye for the strike zone, always having a close walk-to-strikeout ratio. In 2023, he walked 84 times and struck out only 77 times. In 2024, he walked 50 times and struck out 57 times. It is a little more spaced out in 2025, but walking 27 times and striking out 51 times is still good.

San Diego Padres superstar Manny Machado has took notice of him as well.

"Hell yeah, that’s my protégé. I’ve been training with him for like eight years,"Machado told MLB.com's Mark Sheldon. "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."

High praise from a player of that caliber.

Defensively, Sal has predominantly played at third base. It will be interesting to see what happens in the future at the Major League level. Noelvi Marte has not been playing well defensively at third, but he has been swining a hot bat. Stewart has all the tools to be a good player. The 21-year-old jumped from the number 84-ranked prospect to number 52 just this season. It has been a great sign seeing him progress this quickly; the next move could be Major League Baseball.

You can see Goldsmith's full post below: