Baseball America’s latest look at the Cincinnati Reds’ farm system lands with a thud: a D grade for 2026, the lowest mark in baseball. No club was given an F, and only three teams ended up with a D - the Reds, the San Diego Padres and the Philadelphia Phillies. The difference, of course, is that San Diego and Philadelphia would be in the playoffs if the season ended today, while Cincinnati has a better record than only three teams in the National League.
That kind of result is a brutal follow-up to where the system stood not long ago. From the start of 2022 through the midpoint of 2025, Baseball America had the Reds’ minor league pipeline sitting between seventh and 11th in its rankings.
Then Chase Burns graduated, the system slid to No. 19 after the 2025 season, and the downward drift kept going. More prospects took steps backward, Sal Stewart moved on, and by midseason the Reds were down at No. 28 before this latest grade pushed them to the bottom of the board.
The graduation list tells part of the story. Since the start of the year, Sal Stewart, Rhett Lowder, Edwin Arroyo, Chase Petty and Zach Maxwell have all lost prospect status by moving into the big-league picture.
Hector Rodriguez is likely next, needing 14 more at-bats or just three more days on the big league roster to no longer count as a prospect. Stewart stands out as the one clear success in that group and could even win Rookie of the Year this season.
The others have struggled, and three of them are already back in the minors.
Among the prospects who still count, there just haven’t been many loud breakouts. Alfredo Duno, the system’s top prospect entering the year and still the top name now, held his ground while moving from High-A Dayton to Double-A Chattanooga. He also played through a hamstring injury that cost him nearly a month, limiting him to 32 games with the Lookouts after his promotion, but he still hit .322/.406/.488 there.
Carter Graham was the big late-season surge. At one point in late April, he looked like a player who might be fighting for his job after posting a .692 OPS this year and a .648 OPS over the previous two seasons in his third run through Dayton.
Instead, he ripped off a massive stretch from the start of May through the end of the season, hitting .307/.428/.596 and launching 28 of his 29 home runs in that span. He also reached Double-A and posted an OPS above .900 in 60 games there.
There are still some promising names down in rookie ball, and Justin Lebron, this year’s first-round pick, has the kind of tools that can hang with almost anybody. But once you get to the full-season levels, the picture gets thin fast. Louisville still has five games left, but everyone else in the system is done, and there just isn’t much to point to as a clean success story.
Pitching depth is the biggest red flag. The Reds have only one pitcher in their top 10 prospects, and he threw fewer than 30.0 innings this year between rookie ball and Single-A.
Even with that status, he profiles as a mid-rotation starter if everything breaks right. Beyond him, the group is filled with back-end starters, rookie-ball arms with good stuff, and a lot of uncertainty.
Injuries have played a role, but the bigger reality is that the pipeline is bare.
There are still a few position players who stand out in different ways, including Carlos Jorge for his speed and defense. But the broader problem remains the same: Double-A and Triple-A don’t offer much that looks like a future big-league regular right now. The failures of Noelvi Marte, Chase Petty and Edwin Arroyo to make the jump and stick have been felt throughout the organization.
The result is an ugly one for Cincinnati. The big-league club is in rough shape, the farm system is near the bottom of the sport, and many of the brightest prospects are still so early in their development that years remain before they matter in Cincinnati - if they get there at all.
In Other News...
Sal Stewart Just Got A New Rookie Of The Year Threat
The National League Rookie of the Year picture got a lot more interesting this week with the Cardinals activating second baseman JJ Wetherholt from the injured list, putting him back into the race just as the season is heading into its final stretch. For the Reds, that matters because Sal Stewart has been right there among the leagues most talked-about first-year players, and the award conversation now looks like a crowded one with about a week and a half left in the regular season.
Stewart is part of a group that also includes the Mets Nolan McLean and Carson Benge, while Wetherholt brings a different case back into the mix after his time on the shelf. The debate around the race has not just been about who has the biggest traditional numbers, but also who looks strongest in metrics such as WAR, and that split is what makes the closing weeks so intriguing for Cincinnati as Stewart tries to hold off a late push from another top candidate. [Read more 🡒]
Reds Are Back To An Outfield Experiment Fans Know Too Well
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It is the kind of move Cincinnati has tried before, with infielders Noelvi Marte and Matt McLain both getting looks in the outfield along the way. Sometimes those experiments have helped patch holes in the lineup, and sometimes they have only underscored how thin the options can get, which is why this latest test is worth watching closely. [Read more 🡒]
Elly De La Cruz Just Delivered Another Dodgers Moment Reds Fans Loved
Elly De La Cruz keeps finding new ways to make a game against the Dodgers feel like a Reds showcase. In the latest chapter, he turned in a 5-3-6 double play that had the kind of snap and creativity that can change an inning in a hurry, catching a throw behind him while still moving and then tagging a sliding baserunner just before the bag. For a Cincinnati club that has seen De La Cruz deliver plenty of highlight material already, this one stood out even in a crowded week.
It also came with some history attached, since it was only the second 5-3-6 double play since the start of the 2024 season. Terry Francona praised the play afterward, which only added to the sense that De La Cruz is stacking up moments that matter beyond the box score. And after a week that already included a record-setting relay throw, the bigger question for the Reds is how many more of these plays he has left to surprise even the people who have seen almost everything from him. [Read more 🡒]