The Cincinnati Reds’ roster has a number of holes at the moment as we finish out September and start looking ahead to next season. Sal Stewart, Elly De La Cruz, Spencer Steer, and JJ Bleday figure to be key cogs in the lineup, while Chase Burns, Andrew Abbott, Nick Lodolo, and Rhett Lowder will headline the rotation. But Tyler Stephenson, Eugenio Suárez, and Brady Singer will hit free agency on a Reds team that hasn’t been deep enough already this season.
The 2027 Reds will need a catcher, a leadoff hitter, rotation depth, and bullpen help. They could use help at third base, in the outfield, and on their bench. And every team could benefit from adding another middle of the order bat or an extra veteran starting pitcher. With so much work to do this offseason, the Reds will likely need to count on prospects filling some of those holes.
Here are four Reds prospects to watch who could become big parts of the conversation next season.
Outfielder Héctor Rodríguez
Since he made his big league debut in early August and is expected to finish this season on the big league roster, Rodríguez won’t technically qualify as a prospect next season. But he does now, and the 22-year-old has been heating up ever since Terry Francona moved him to the leadoff spot in the Reds lineup.
There were big questions about Rodríguez’s defense, but he’s fared much better than expected in that area. While he needs to continue to reel in his approach at the plate, he’s a dangerous hitter who has already swung several games for the Reds.
Stewart got a taste of the big leagues late in 2025 and used it to propel him to success in his first full year in the big leagues. He’s been hyping up Rodríguez in interviews for years. “I told you guys, he’s coming,” Stewart said after a recent big game from Rodríguez. “He’s going to keep getting better. I’m happy that he’s up there with us.”
Catcher Alfredo Duno
Duno is the most talented offensive catching prospect in the sport. He has ridiculous power and is the rare hitter with 30-plus homer potential who doesn’t have a lot of swing-and-miss in his game. He raked in Dayton to open the season, and he got even better when he was promoted to Double-A. “Alfredo Duno is The Animal,” Reds shortstop Carlos Sanchez said early this summer. “He’s the best.”
Even though Duno is only 20 years old, he should be ready to hit in the big leagues at some point next season. Expectations for him are high. “He has something special,” says Reds catcher Jose Trevino, who’s trained with Duno. “He’s a special player. Talking with him in the offseason, during last season, it’s special. He’s an exciting, exciting player.”
The question is whether or not Duno will be ready defensively in a year’s time. All catchers take time to develop. Stephenson didn’t debut until he was 23 years old, and he wasn’t a No. 1 catcher until age 25.
Injuries earlier in his minor league career and the COVID pandemic took away important reps for Duno to develop defensively. Framing and overall consistency behind the plate need to be better for him before he can become the Reds’ franchise catcher.
Right-handed pitcher Jose Franco
While he opened the season on the big league roster, Franco pitched in just 10 Reds games this year and they were all out of the bullpen. He got the attention of the coaching staff back in Spring Training with his power on the mound as well as his ability to throw strikes, but he didn’t get a real runway to show what he could do because he was pitching in a long relief role he had no experience doing.
Franco was ranked by many outlets as the organization’s top pitching prospect entering this season, and a normal offseason gives him a chance to ramp back up as a starting pitcher and show what he can really do. With Singer hitting free agency, Hunter Greene recovering from elbow surgery, and limited pitching depth in the farm system’s upper levels, Franco is set up to get his shot in 2027.
Shortstop Justin Lebron
It would be very aggressive to project Lebron, the Reds’ first-round pick in the 2026 MLB Draft, to make his big league debut next season. But he has that type of ceiling, and he’s going to enter the offseason with a ton of momentum.
Lebron entered the 2026 college baseball season at Alabama as a potential top-five pick, but then he really struggled. As a result, he fell to the Reds with the No. 18 pick in the draft. In the pre-draft scouting process, the Reds identified some specific adjustments that could help unlock Lebron’s swing. He worked on that immediately afterwards, and then he got called up to High-A Dayton in August.
The 21-year-old Lebron didn’t just show good signs, he blew evaluators away with his combination of power, consistency, and standout results. He’s an incredible athlete and a gifted defender, and a consistent swing would make him the type of prospect who could skyrocket through the farm system very quickly.
Charlie Goldsmith has covered the Reds and Bengals since 2020, and his newsletter on the teams can be found at charlieschalkboard.substack.com.
