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.