GOODYEAR, AZ. – Willie Harris nursed a coffee and leaned against a wall in the Cincinnati Reds’ clubhouse. With a knowing gaze and an affirming head nod to extenuate his point, he dispensed a player comparison, or “comp,” he thought was applicable to Reds teenage prospect Steele Hall.
“When you look at Steele Hall, you know who I see? I see Trea Turner,” Harris said. “That’s what I see in three or four years. Pretty damn similar players. Both can run. Both got whip. Both about the same size.”
Harris, a first-year third base coach for the Reds and former manager in the club’s farm system, is in some position to make that claim. He comes from a baseball family, played multiple positions over 12 years in the big leagues and won a World Series.
The player Harris is comparing to Turner, the multi-time National League batting champion and speedster on a nine-figure contract with the Philadelphia Phillies, is the unproven Steele Hall.
Hall less than a year as a professional in the Reds organization. But Hall, 18, is indeed thought of that highly by many within the Reds, and they used the No. 9 overall selection in the 2025 MLB Draft to claim him.
Hall was a 17-year-old shortstop out of Hewitt-Trussville High School (Alabama) at the time of the draft last summer. He reclassified his graduation year with college baseball in mind, but he ended up bypassing the college game and going straight from the prep ranks to the draft. He’s already rated the No. 3 prospect in the Cincinnati organization, according to MLB Pipeline.
The Reds liked Hall for his glove work and elite speed. His bat might remain a work in progress, although hitting was one of the highlights of his now-concluded time playing among the big-leaguers during spring training.
But Hall won’t amount to much if he doesn’t run out his pop-ups and routine plays, and when he didn’t during a big-league spring training game this spring, Reds manager and future Hall of Famer Terry Francona stepped in to address it.
During an at-bat in March 18 split-squad game Cactus League contest against the Los Angeles Angels − a scarce and invaluable opportunity for a player of Hall’s youth − he committed one of the game’s cardinal sins: He didn’t run out a pop-up.
“I hit a fly ball straight up and I wouldn’t say dogged it but I didn’t run as hard as I could out of the box,” Hall said.
Francona flagged the transgression immediately.
“He got on me,” Hall said.
Francona recalled the ensuing interaction with some warmth, but he was deliberate about extending a message that needed to be heard and understood. To Francona’s ears, it sounded like the message landed.
“I just told him, ‘that’s not what we do,'” Francona said. “And I just reminded him, I said, ‘I know you’re a good kid. I said, ‘just don’t do it again.’ He said, ‘never again.’ Which is good.
“I don’t want to be that guy that just makes every kid nervous as crap but I want them to understand how important it is that we play the game a certain way. I’m glad he took it that way because that’s how it was meant. And I have no doubts because he seemed like a good listener.”
Hall probably received larger quantities of feedback from other coaches throughout spring training. Understandably, that particular interaction with Francona, who has 2,000-plus managerial victories and two World Series rings, stuck with him.
“It’s wild. It’s crazy honestly,” Hall said. “Overall, (Francona’s) bought into me and wants me to be a great player and, yeah, it’s great.”
It stands to reason Francona might not be in baseball by the time Hall makes it to the big leagues. But while Hall or any other player is playing for him in the games he’s managing, even in spring training, Francona is going to do what his title indicates. He manages them.
Getting coached up by Francona was just a small part of Hall’s education this spring. He was exposed to quite a bit this spring, and the hope is that his playing time, albeit limited, in front of Francona and members of the front office spurred a little extra development.
Camp broke for the Reds’ big-league players March 22 ahead of Opening Day on March 26, but Hall will remain in Goodyear for the continuation of minor-league camp. The club is yet to announce its plans for Hall beyond minor league camp.
Hall appeared in five Cactus League games through March 21 and batted six times. He said his goal was to attempt to impact games however he could, offering that he thought he hadn’t achieved much in that regard.
On March 6, batting for just the second time all spring, he clapped an RBI single against against the San Francisco Giants. Defensively, he made five assists on five chances in four appearances in the field all spring.
He savored the RBI hit like an 18-year-old should, calling it “surreal.”
All told, his four opportunities in the field, combined with his at-bats, amounted to significant exposure to the higher levels of the game.
“I think it’s been great for him,” Francona said. “I mean, think about − at that time in my life, I was trying to figure out who would say ‘yes’ to me to go to the prom. He’s (expletive) playing, facing Major League pitchers. That’s pretty impressive.”
Hall also participated in the Reds-Giants MLB Spring Breakout game March 19. The Spring Breakout is an annual, four-day, league-wide prospect showcase. Teams pit rosters comprised of their most promising, young talents against one another.
Hall again appeared in the latter stages of the game. He didn’t see much action defensively and worked two walks in two plate appearances. He saw nine combined pitches in the at-bats and didn’t swing once.
It wasn’t the highlight of Hall’s spring. He also didn’t stick out for anything bad, and that might have been evidence of his development during his short time in the Reds’ system.
“I’ve taken, definitely, big strides in my game and just cleaning up some areas,” Hall said. “And I’m just seeing it more. I’m 18, so right now I think that’s the biggest thing, just seeing the game more and thinking about the game a little bit better, deeper.”
Harris helped with some of that development, as well as making Hall feel welcome at a time in his career when, in Harris’ observation, most teens and young pros sit at the end of the bench trying to stay out of the way.
Harris made a point this spring of hitting the backfields each day at the Reds’ complex in order to seek out players like Hall, and the two men have developed a fun-loving friendship in which Harris also imparts wisdom Hall is lacking. Harris described their relationship as “being direct” with some levity mixed in.
“He comes over to the Major League games and I clown with him. I make him laugh,” Harris said. “I try to make him relax a little bit. My main thing is making sure that these kids know that they’re welcome.”
The player-comp Harris landed on for Hall versus Turner wasn’t an accident. It was informed by his time around Hall.
“I build a relationship with those kids, and you grow to love them,” Harris said. “You look at a kid like Steele, he’s young. He’s very talented. He’s very athletic, but with so much to learn and so much ahead of him.
“He’s still a kid, man. He’s a freshman in college right now – maybe? A senior in high school? He’s still a young man who’s very, very special.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Why Terry Francona corrected Reds prospect Steele Hall after fly out
Reporting by Pat Brennan, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
