It’s around Spencer Steer that the Reds should build.
The Cincinnati Reds made a pair of high-profile trades with the Minnesota Twins over the last two and a half years. The deal that sent the best player from Cincinnati’s side, Sonny Gray, didn’t net Spencer Steer.
It was the Tyler Mahle trade that netted Spencer Steer, yet the other sizeable piece of that equation – Christian Encarnacion-Strand – became the breakout pick by many for 2024, his power potential one of the biggest plus tools of all players who emerged from the minors in 2023.
The 2023 Reds didn’t know exactly where to even play Steer, who bopped around the entire infield before settling into a corner OF spot as they looked to overlap him elsewhere. The Reds then opened their pocketbooks in the biggest way this offseason to sign Jeimer Candelario, a guy whose primary position at the hot corner is the same position where Steer has spent more time in both college and the pro ranks than any other.
I have repeatedly looked right past Steer the last two years. The power, speed, and arm of Elly De La Cruz are simply tantalizing, Matt McLain looked the second coming of Jose Altuve as a rookie, CES hits balls a million miles per hour, and Noelvi Marte looked a future Rookie of the Year in the most important August the Reds have played in years. Steer, despite being overlapped, moved around the field, and placed as the #7 hitter in most lineups by manager David Bell, doesn’t seem to care that folks keep staring at every other shiny thing the Cincinnati Reds have acquired lately.
Since the start of the 2023 season, Steer is the owner of a .367 wOBA in 699 PA. That’s the 15th best among all qualified MLB hitters in that time, better than the likes of Corbin Carroll (.365), Cody Bellinger (.365), Austin Riley (.361), and Rafael Devers (.357). He’s become a bona fide offensive star amid a roster full of potential, but question marks.
He’s the cornerstone of the Cincinnati Reds, the dependable rock around whom they should be building everything positionally that they have. No longer should his perceived versatility be a thing that makes him fit around everyone else – he’s the guy they should make the most comfortable of them all and find ways to surround him wherever that is as best they can.
This is Spencer Steer’s team.
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