Reds notebook: Sal Stewart shows off some head-turning power

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — The pitch was even with the chalk of the batter’s box, right up around the stomach of Sal Stewart. On Wednesday in a Cactus League game against the White Sox, Stewart was offered a 95 mph fastball in the first pitch of his at-bat in the second inning.

With quick hands, Stewart was able to make contact.

“It seemed like he got jammed a little,” said veteran first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, who was in the on-deck circle. “But when you have that kind of pop, you can jam it all the way out to center field.”

Somehow, Stewart managed to crush a 440-foot homer to straightaway center field with a line drive that was 108 mph off of the bat.

“I didn’t think he really got ahold of it,” said veteran utility player Garrett Hampson, who was in the lineup yesterday. “It tells you how much talent he has and how much power he has in his bat. He’s a young guy, but he doesn’t act like it. I know he’s not scared of the moment. He wants to be that guy that can come in and change the lineup.”

If there was any question about whether Stewart losing 20+ pounds this year would reduce any of his power, this swing against the White Sox quieted any concerns. It also added to the hype entering Stewart’s first full year in the big leagues.

“I’d be shocked if he doesn’t win the Rookie of the Year this year,” Spencer Steer said. “He’s that good of a hitter. There’s a way he goes about it. He brings a good energy every day, and I love the confidence he has. He knows he’s good. That can be a tough thing to balance when you first get called up. I kind of fought imposter syndrome when I was first here. Do I really belong here? He knows he belongs here. That’s why he’s so good.”

Last season, Stewart hit 25 total homers between Double-A (Chattanooga played in a huge pitcher’s park), Triple-A and MLB. In his 18 big league games, Stewart hit five homers. Even though he wasn’t getting a ton of playing time during his first month in the big leagues, Stewart led the Reds in home runs last September and posted a .838 OPS.

It was a very small sample size, but his barrel rate was on pace to be top-20 in baseball. All of Stewart’s underlying metrics were incredible.

What makes Stewart the hitter he is is the fact that he doesn’t really prioritize hitting for power.

“It’s definitely a part of it but it’s not my whole game,” Stewart said. “I want to hit a hard line drive. If I miss a bit, it goes over the fence. It’s a part of my game. I obviously got (homers). But it’s not my whole game. I try to be as complete as possible and be whatever the team needs.”

Last spring, Terry Francona called Stewart one of the most polished young hitters that he has seen. The 22-year-old can hit the ball a long way, but he’s trying to hit line drives up the middle

“He’s an uber-talented baseball guy,” Lowe said. “He’s learning the ins and outs of the spring training routine and all of that stuff. You’ve seen the at-bat quality. The work is there. He’s a really bright young player.”

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In the near future, TJ Friedl is going to make a start in left field.

He remains the Reds’ every day center fielder, but Francona is preparing for some specific scenarios and wants Friedl to be able to move around a bit. That will help Dane Myers, a very gifted playmaking center fielder, play his best position when Myers is in the lineup and will let the Reds have the best outfield combination possible on those days.

“Myers is such a good center fielder,” Francona said. “You try to cover things in spring training so when the season happens you don’t look back and say I should have done that in spring training. I talked to TJ about it. I bet you he’ll play a few games there (left field) this spring just to cover it. If we’re facing a certain lefty, more times than not TJ still plays. If Myers is in there, it might make sense… we’ll look at it.”

Noelvi Marte had a play that he wanted back in right field in the very early portion of the Cactus League schedule. It’s Marte’s first spring in the outfield.

“He just didn’t get back on it, and he knew it right away,” Francona said. “He went right up to me (and said) I’ve got to get behind it. The ball that he caught in the last week of the season (the home run robbery last year), if he drifts on it, (he doesn’t get it). He knew it right away, which is good. If you don’t do something fundamentally right out here, you’ll pay for it. If you can play the outfield out here, you can play anywhere with the high skies and the sun.”

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On Thursday morning, Jose Trevino led a team-wide free throw competition. It looked like there was a bracket full of one-on-one matchups. Players would shoot free throws with the entire team watching. It was a high-pressure situation and a good competition. Almost the entire team stopped what it was doing to watch, cheer and hype up the event that was going on.