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Dateline: 1,209 Kilometers from the Gulf of Mexico
The Reds were trying to strike gold with the ninth pick in the June 13 amatuer player draft. They ended up with another commodity metal with which to form a foundation, heading into the 2030’s.
Shortstop Steele Hall from Hewitt-Trussville High School in
Trussville, Alabama. He was originally classified to be eligible in 2026 but applied to be reclassified to be eligible for this draft in 2025.
“It was originally Tennessee's idea to reclassify,” Hall said. “I went up there for a camp. It was brought up to me and my family. At first we didn’t think about it but it kept being brought up by more and more people. We made a pros and cons list about whether to do it or not. We didn’t find enough negatives so we decided let’s do it. Let’s roll.”
Hall was selected by the Reds with the ninth pick in the draft and rescinded his offer from the University of Tennessee. The Reds inked him to a contract on July 19 for a signing bonus of $5.71 million or roughly a half million below the slotted figure of $6.51 million.
Hall signed as a 17-year old but he turns 18 on July 24. He is 6’ 227 lbs after adding 15-20 pounds last winter to add muscle.
Hall played for Jeff Mauldin, the head baseball coach of the Huskies, which turned in a 34-4 record in 2025. The team lost one game in its district, one to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, a school that recruits the best players from around the country, including Reds’ Triple A player Rece Hinds. The other two losses were to Bob Jones High School in the Alabama High School
Hall hit .484 with a .554 on-base-percentage and a .871 slugging percentage with 14 doubles, five triples, eight home runs and 35 RBI in 37 games.
Scouts who have been out to see Hall this spring agree on one thing: his speed. Hall is easily one of the best runners in this class, with some evaluators even giving his speed an 80 grade on the 20-80 scale. This shows up on the tape easily with his base-stealing ability and translates out in the field at shortstop. Hall is a quick-twitch athlete with all the ability to stick at the position at the next level. His arm strength at the position projects as a plus tool and the range to be a good defender at the very least in the pro ranks. Hall’s slick glove work and fast release adds into his tantalizing defensive profile.
When asked if he was faster than Elly De La Cruz, Hall said,”I think I could.”
"I think I’m one of the fastest players in the draft,” Hall said. “The fastest 60 I ran was a flat 6.1.”
The Reds philosophy is to take the best players available in the draft, regardless of position. Hall who plays shortstop may appear redundant with the talented Edwin Arroyo making his way through the minor league system or that De La Cruz is the current shortstop with a career just starting to reach his potential. De La Cruz is under team control until after the 2030 season. If Hall progresses at a steady pace he will be 22 or 23 before he is ready for the major leagues which would be about the draft would play out.
The caution is that high school players bring a lot of risk along with the promise of higher rewards. There are so many nuances of the game that never show up in high school baseball or college for that matter even with the higher profile baseball schools that produced Matt McLain, Spencer Steer and TJ Friedl.
“My first impression of the Reds organization was great. I
Had the most contact with J.R. Reynolds (the scout that covers that area for the Reds) He kept everything real and genuine. I thought it would be a pretty cool place to play, said Hall, who worked out for the team in Cincinnati. “It was a sigh of relief and I teared up a little bit because of emotions.”
Hall credits putting on weight for his improvement. It allowed him to swing easier and “let it show my skills.”
Hall liked to pattern himself a little bit after Dansby Swanson of the Cubs, a fellow shortstop.
The Reds followed his progress this season. Reds’ amatuer scouting director, Joe Katuska said,”He got better and better as the year went on. We think he will stay at shortstop.”
This isn’t always the case.according to Reds insiders the team needs to decide who the shortstop of the future is. If it is someone other than De La Cruz, Elly could be converted to center field.
“We’ve seen his bat make strides with the strength gains he’s made,” Katuska said. “Some of the analytic numbers (such as swing and miss) we weren’t too concerned about. We are talking about a player who is two years younger than the draft class as a whole. What we’ve seen is that the gains he’s seen give us comfort that they are going to stick.”
According to Katuska it is a little unfair to make comparisons to current big leaguers.
“Comparisons did come up in our meetings. The super athletic guys like Trea Turner. It is hard to project based on a guy that just signed a $300 million contract at the big league level. But Trea Turner comparisons came up, Dansby Swanson was one. That type of player, who can run, can throw, and provides value with the bat as well, a leadoff type of guy. That’s what we saw in Steele.”
His personality makeup was another important factor in the Reds’ decision making.
“He;s a good kid. He likes to compete,” Katuska said. “He is kind of mild mannered off the field. Once you get him in between the lines, he’s fiery. He wants to show you how good he is.”
Which squares with his remark about being faster than De La Cruz. He hesitated with the answer which was thrown at him unexpectedly but he wasn’t going to resort to fake humbleness.
He has a lot to learn. Even in the better high school programs and competition as a scout once said. At that level, he may have run into one pitcher over the course of the year that he had trouble handling. Even at the lower levels of the minor leagues there will be several who match up to him.
Expectations are often unfair and failures will be new to him but it will take a few years to tell whether he can handle them or allow them to defeat him.
