Minor League Roundup - Who’s Hot, Who’s Not

A brief recap of the Reds’ farm over the first month-ish of the season.

We’re just over a month into the season and the Reds’ minor league teams are settled in and getting some decent performances from their top prospects, especially on the pitching side of things. It’s been a weird start to 2025 on the farm, considering many offensive prospects have been called up already due to the many injuries at the Major League level. Let’s take a look at how things have fared so far down on the farm.

Who’s Hot - Hitters

Sal Stewart - 2B/3B (AA Chattanooga Lookouts)

In his third full season in professional baseball, Sal Stewart is showing why the Reds selected him with their compensation pick back in 2022. After a wrist injury hampered him last season, he’s hitting the ball really well with Double-A Chattanooga. In 32 games in 2025, he’s hitting .303/.376/.445 with 11 doubles and 2 home runs. He has also stolen 9 bases, which is 1 shy of his 2024 total in less than half the number of games.

Sammy Stafura - SS (Low-A Daytona Tortugas)

The Reds’ 2nd round pick in 2023, Sammy Stafura has shown an impressive display of patience at the plate and athleticism in 2025. In his second season in Daytona, Stafura is hitting .273/.407/.475 so far in 2025. Speed and athleticism were always going to be his upside, and he has shown that so far with 7 doubles, 2 triples, and 7 stolen bases. He’s walked 20 times against 34 strikeouts and has added a few home runs to boot.

Hector Rodriguez - OF (AA Chattanooga Lookouts)

The centerpiece of the Tyler Naquin trade back in 2022, Hector Rodriguez has hit the ball well at every level in the minor leagues. He seems to have taken another step forward, as he is having his best season (so far) in his first taste of Double-A ball. He’s hitting .327/.406/.513 with 5 doubles, 2 triples, and 4 home runs for the Lookouts. The biggest adjustment he’s made this season is that he is striking out much less and walking more, as he owns a 14/17 BB/K ratio on the season. For comparison, he only walked 26 times in 125 games last season.

Tyler Callihan - IF/OF (AAA Louisville Bats)

Tyler Callihan’s progression has gone a little slower than most Reds’ fans would have hoped when he was picked in the first round in 2019. But, he continued to get better and had a strong month in Louisville to start off 2025. He hit .303/.410/.528 in 24 games with the Bats, adding 4 doubles, 2 triples, and 4 home runs to those totals. With the Reds getting decimated by injuries, those numbers earned him his first call to the big leagues a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, that stint ended prematurely for Callihan, as he broke his forearm making a catch at the wall in Atlanta last week. Here’s to a speedy recovery.

Who’s Hot - Pitchers

Chase Burns - RHP (High-A Dayton, AA Chattanooga)

You can’t talk about the Reds’ pitching prospects without talking about Chase Burns. The 2024 first round pick out of Wake Forest has been as advertised and more. Burns made his professional debut in Dayton, striking out 20 batters and walking only 5 in 11.2 innings over 3 starts. That was enough for the Reds, who called him up to Chattanooga to see what he could do at the next level. At Chattanooga, he’s thrown 14 innings, striking out 21 and walking only 2 batters while allowing only 2 runs (1 earned) across 3 starts. He is quickly propelling himself to becoming the top pitching prospect in all of baseball.

Ty Floyd - RHP (Low-A Daytona)

The “other guy” in that classic Wake Forest-LSU College World Series battle back in 2023 that featured Rhett Lowder, Paul Skenes, and Dylan Crews, the Reds’ second round pick from that season has had a quiet start to his professional career. Floyd missed all of 2024 due to an elbow injury in Spring Training and then shoulder surgery after that, but the righty has come out strong in 2025. He’s made 7 starts in 2025, spanning 24.2 innings and he’s put up a 1.46 ERA, striking out 28 and walking 8 in those 7 appearances. The Reds are still being careful with him as he returns from his shoulder injury, as he’s only throwing 4 innings per start, but he has been impressive in those limited innings. Hopefully he can keep progressing and work his way up the ranks.

Who’s Not - Hitters

Carlos Jorge - 2B/OF (High-A Dayton Dragons)

After a strong start to his career, his progress stalled in 2024 in his second trip to Dayton. The Reds kept him there for another season, and their 21st ranked prospect unfortunately hasn’t seen much improvement. He’s hitting .172/.317/.242 in 29 games this season. A silver lining is that he has already walked 20 times this year, compared to the 31 he had in 2024. Hopefully the hits start to come with his patience at the plate.

Austin Hendrick - OF (AA Chattanooga Lookouts)

Austin Hendrick’s career just has not taken off like everyone hoped when he was picked in the first round in 2020. He is currently spending his second season in Double-A and is only hitting .217/.325/.391 in 2025. If you squint, you can see that he’s on pace to walk more than he has in his career, which is something, but unfortunately these numbers are in line with his career, where he is hitting .204/.291/.356 over his 5 seasons of professional baseball.

Ricky Cabrera - 2B/3B (High-A Dayton)

After promising 2023 and 2024 campaigns, Ricky Cabrera was bumped up to High-A Dayton for 2025. Unfortunately the success he saw in the previous two seasons hasn’t materialized so far this year. The Reds’ 10th ranked prospect is hitting .187/.286/.240 with only 3 extra-base hits. To go with that, he’s dealing with an injury as he was placed on the 7-day IL back on May 6.

Who’s Not - Pitchers

Zach Maxwell - RHP (AAA Louisville Bats)

The 6’6”, 275 pound reliever’s ability to throw hard and blow away hitters allowed him to progress through the minors fairly quickly, but the 2022 6th round pick has stalled this season has he has been unable to find the strike zone. Maxwell has put up a 6.91 ERA over 14.2 innings of work. Most concerning is that he has walked 10 batters already while only striking out 13. That’s not great for someone who relies on striking guys out to get through innings.

Drew Parrish - LHP (AAA Louisville Bats)

The Reds’ signed Parrish back in December to provide a little organizational depth. Despite bringing in a career 4.31 ERA in 5 minor league seasons, Parrish has been lit up this season. In 8 starts for Louisville, he’s posted a 7.13 ERA over 24.2 innings. He’s allowed 19 runs, 6 home runs, and walked (14) more than he’s struck out (13).

Kevin Abel - RHP (AA Chattanooga Lookouts)

After putting up promising numbers in Dayton in 2024, Kevin Abel has not been able to figure it out in 2025. The 2021 7th round pick has thrown 25.1 innings over 7 appearances and put up a 7.82 ERA. He’s allowed 22 runs on an opponents’ batting average of .290 on the season.