Sal Stewart: Emerging dynasty player

Hello, everyone. Glad you are back for a new episode of emerging dynasty players. And if you are new here, welcome.

This week I am the weather Sal Stewart from the Cincinnati Reds. Stewart was only prepared three years ago and was quickly risen by the Reds system and made his Major League debut on 1 September.

I will admit that I am biased against Stewart, as I have it in various of my dynastia competitions.

Let’s look at Stewart to see why I like him so much.

Career statistics

Way to the show

The Reds selected Sal Stewart as a compensation -pick in the 2022 design to watch Nick Castellanos with the Phillies. The book about Stewart was that he had a solid approach on the record, and apparently that book was correct. The right -handed Stewart has closed its way through the minors to land with the Reds when they added him to the schedule on 1 September.

Stewart competes against players who were on average three to five years older than he has held his own by .289/.390/.466 to cut in 323 games with 1,378 perches with 40 homers, 202 RBI and 42 steals. This season at Double-A and Triple-A he really found his groove on the plate, where he steals .309/.383/.524 with 20 homers, 80 RBI and 17.

The tools

As mentioned above, the Reds really kept Stewart’s approach on the plate when they appointed him, and he never lost it during his time in the minors. During his time on the farm he had a walking speed of 13% and a strike output of 15.7%. Moreover, he does an excellent job to all areas. At Triple-A he had a pull percentage of 39% and a 36% compared to the field percentage this season.

But he not only beats the ball because he had a hard hit rate of 51% in Triple A. and so far with the Reds, he keeps hit the ball hard. Although the sample size is whole, very small, he entered Friday’s matches with a barrel percentage of 18.8% and his average exit speed is 93.8 MPH. The MLB average for those two rates is a 7.1% and 88.6 mph.

You should not forget that Sal Stewart is only 21 years old, not 22 to 7 December. With that said, he has developed his force every year in the minors and will only improve if he adds strength. In his first full minor League season, he hit 12 gayers and on average a dinger every 35.5 barriers. Last season he hit 10 homers in 80 games when a wrist injury shortened his season.

This year in the minors he had 20 gayers and on average a Homer every 21.8 barriers. The .415 Slugging percentage he had in 2023 (again, his first full season as a professional) is his lowest slug percentage of his career. Since 2023, his OPS has risen from .811 to .844 to .907 before the Reds call him. To make a long story short, Stewart has improved his power game every season, and there is no reason to think that it will not get better, especially in the park of the Slagman in which he plays.

The knock on Sal Stewart was from high school and was that he does not have much speed. Most scouting reports give him a figure of 40. But even though he has no excellent speed, Stewart is actually an above -average runner – at least when it comes to stealing bases.

He wiped 42 bases during his career in the Minor League while he was caught only nine times. I take a success rate of 82%at any time.

Will he remain a baseager with the Reds? That is a great question if I can say it myself. I think that with better catchers and pitchers (well, most pitchers) who work on keeping runners, the steals will not come to Stewart that often, but I don’t think they will just disappear. That said, you go after Stewart for what he can put on the record in terms of OBP and SLG, not stolen base.

The verdict

Just like different players I have spoken in recent weeks, Sal Stewart was a great all-round athlete in high school because he was a striking basketball player, next to a stud on the baseball field. Thanks to his basketball skills, Stewart is a better athlete on the field than people probably realize.

That athletic capacity will help him be a success on the field. He has a good understanding of the board, he is going to add more power to his game, and he can even steal some bases.

The biggest question is where he will play on the field. In the minors he played 203 games on third base, 61 on the second and two in the beginning. With the Reds he first started five games and one in third place, and went to the competition at third base another time. It seems that the second base is not in its future, and with Ke’bryan Hayes in third place that place seems to be blocked.

So have the Reds decided Spencer steering or Christian Encarnacion beach are no longer the first base of the future of the team? Is Stewart the next man, or will he be a player who initially sees time, third, perhaps a second base and also DH? It is too early to say, but my premonition is the first base where he gets most of his playing time, which means that his power potential has to be realized sooner instead of being realized later.

But the fact that he can play multiple positions makes him an even more intriguing player to check, because versatility in the fantasy world is worth his weight in gold.

With most fantasy competitions now in the late season, adding Stewart (if available) may not be permitted, depending on the competition rules. If that is the case, he is definitely a player to focus this season while you are preparing for 2026 and then.

Thank you for reading and come back next week.