ATLANTA – The Cincinnati Reds selected Steele Hall, a high school shortstop from Alabama, with the ninth overall pick in the 2025 MLB draft Sunday night. He's the first high school hitter the Reds have taken in the first round since outfielder Austin Hendricks in 2020 (12th overall).

The Reds on Sunday selected shortstop Steele Hall of Hewitt-Trussville (Ala.) High School with the ninth pick of the 2025 MLB Draft.

That's the kind of speed former Reds second-round pick Billy Hamilton had. Hamilton was one of the most exciting players to reach MLB for Cincinnati in the last quarter-century, but he simply didn't have enough power to stick around. Hall is the idealized version of Hamilton.

Steele Hall originally committed to Tennessee baseball in the 2026 class, but reclassed to the 2025 class and was picked in the MLB Draft.

The Rockies go on vacation carrying the baggage of a 22-74 record. Colorado’s 74 losses before the All-Star break are the most since 1933, the year of the first All-Star Game. Colorado surpassed the 2024 White Sox, who were 27-71 at the break.

For nearly two full games, the Reds seemingly had their hands full with the Rockies, despite their opponent owning baseball's worst record. The push to win manager Terry Francona wanted to see going into the All-Star break looked elusive at best.

Cincinnati Reds 3B prospect Sal Stewart hit .306 with 10 home runs and a .377 on-base percentage in 80 games for Double-A Chattanooga.

Tyler Stephenson needed to make sure he had one of those skills on Sunday, or the Cincinnati Reds catcher would've been dead meat at second base. He certainly didn't have enough speed. Stephenson was thrown out by a bunch.