The Reds got a little bit of good news on both ends of the prospect pipeline, with one familiar name and one far less familiar one earning MLB.com’s Prospect of the Year honors for the organization.
MLB.com’s Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo picked Carter Graham as Cincinnati’s top hitter prospect and Ysaias Escalona as the club’s top pitcher prospect. Graham’s selection was easy to see coming after the season he put together.
Escalona’s? Not so much.
Graham, now 25, turned in the best year of his young career and finally forced his way onto the radar. Callis and Mayo pointed to a massive breakout season in which he led the Reds organization in home runs with 29, RBIs with 93, batting average at .300, on-base percentage at .421, slugging percentage at .565 and wRC+ at 151.
He’s in the Arizona Fall League now, though his first game there ended with a scare after he got banged up while trying to rob a home run. The injury is not believed to be serious.
Escalona’s path to the honor is a different story entirely. Signed for just $10,000 in April 2025, he was electric in the Dominican Summer League this year and piled up a circuit-leading 0.99 ERA. He also finished with a .175 BAA, good for third in the league, and a 0.88 WHIP, which ranked second in the DSL.
His overall line was just as sharp: seven earned runs allowed in 63 1/3 innings, a 0.884 WHIP and 59 strikeouts in 14 games.
It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Escalona head to the states next season.
Beyond the prospect recognition, Matt McLain heads into the offseason with one clear priority at the plate: being ready for the fastball.
“He feels the urgency,” Reds general manager Brad Meador told Charlie Goldsmith. “A lot of our guys do.
He got into a point where he was trying to swing his way out of it. He and the hitting guys broke down what the offseason needs to look like.
It starts with being on the fastball.”
McLain and the Reds’ hitting staff have already identified the issue. Now the challenge is turning that offseason work into more consistent production when the games start again.
In Other News...
Reds May Need A Different Player At The Center Of Their Future
Since the rebuild began in 2022, the Reds have leaned hard into turnover, moving out established names and trying to let the next wave of talent take hold. Elly De La Cruz, Chase Burns and Sal Stewart are now among the faces of that next stage, but the bigger question is no longer just who is here now. It is who is best positioned to anchor the organization for the long haul.
Stewart stands out because of both his contractual situation and the way the roster is currently shaped around him, especially with the club still lacking the kind of depth that makes an immediate push feel realistic. Cincinnati can keep building around the idea of De La Cruz as the headline talent, but the harder look at the roster suggests the Reds may eventually need a different player at the center of the plan if they want the rebuild to turn into something sustainable. [Read more 🡒]
Eugenio Surez And The Reds Suddenly Look Headed In Different Directions
Eugenio Surezs status with the Reds has shifted in a way that says plenty about where the club wants to go next. Cincinnati put Surez on outright waivers before Sept. 1, and when no team claimed him, it left the organization with a clear opening to reflect on a player who has long been part of its recent story but no longer seems to match the preferred profile. Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall has pointed the club toward a contact-first approach at the plate, a style that does not line up neatly with Surezs game.
Surezs 2023 season was uneven, marked by injuries and stretches of poor performance, and his future in Cincinnati now feels more open-ended than it once did. A return on a reduced deal is still possible, but the larger signal is harder to miss: the Reds appear to be moving in a different direction as they think ahead to 2027. For a player who has been tied closely to the clubs recent past, that makes this a notable pause point, even if the next chapter has not been written yet. [Read more 🡒]
Reds May Need A Surprising Sal Stewart Shift To Fix The Lineup
The Reds are already staring at the same infield question they have carried for a while, and it is starting to shape how they think about 2027. KeBryan Hayes gives them stability at third base, but the offense at that spot has not matched the rest of the lineups needs, which is why the front office is weighing a different kind of fix. Rather than chasing a slim third-base market, Cincinnati may have to consider a more creative internal shuffle to get more production where it matters most.
One path gaining traction would send Sal Stewart back to third, a position he has played before, and let the Reds address first base elsewhere. That approach fits the reality of a market that does not offer many obvious impact options, especially if Cincinnati wants to avoid overpaying in free agency or surrendering too much in a trade. With the farm system not stacked enough to solve everything on its own, the Reds could end up finding that the cleanest answer is the one that looks a little unexpected. [Read more 🡒]