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Former Duck Spencer Steer making the most of his time with Cincinnati Reds

By Jeremy Trottier

Jun 7, 2023; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Reds first baseman Spencer Steer (7) catches a pop up hit by Los Angeles Dodgers left fielder Chris Taylor (not pictured) in the third inning at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 7, 2023; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Reds first baseman Spencer Steer (7) catches a pop up hit by Los Angeles Dodgers left fielder Chris Taylor (not pictured) in the third inning at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports /
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Former Oregon Duck Spencer Steer is having a breakout first full season

Spencer Steer has been absolutely lighting up the MLB in his first full season in the big leagues.  As a crucial component to the success of the Cincinnati Reds, he has had an extremely impressive rookie season.  As one of, if not the best player on his senior season team with Oregon, it is impressive to see him get to the MLB level at only 25 years old.  In this article, we will go over his path to the show, as well as what he is doing there that is so impressive.

Steer’s path to the show

Three year Oregon Duck Spencer Steer finally made his MLB debut last season after nearly four seasons in the minor leagues.  He was initially drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 2016 MLB Draft, however he chose to go to college at Oregon for an additional three seasons.  This would lead to him being drafted by the Minnesota Twins instead in the 2019 draft instead.

Steer worked his way up to triple-A baseball via the Twins system (St.Paul) before being involved in a trade that sent him to the Cincinnati Reds.  This deal was Steer, Steve Hajjar, and Christian Encarnacion-Strand to the Reds for Tyler Mahle.  Steer would go on to make his MLB debut on September 2nd, 2022 against the Colorado Rockies.  He would see four at bats, and had two hits, a home run, an RBI, two runs, as well as one RBI.

How is Steer doing in his first full MLB season?

The whole reason for writing this article is how quickly Steer has been able to translate to MLB level competition.  This season he has shown why the Reds traded for him in the first place, accruing the following stats:

  • 83 games played – 354 plate appearances/305 at bats
  • .292/.381/.505/.886 hitting splits as of today
  • 89 hits (154 total bases) – 19 doubles, two triples, 14 home runs
  • 51 RBI, 44 runs, nine stolen bases out of 11 attempts
  • 40 walks drawn to only 64 strikeouts
  • Three positions played (1B, 3B, LF) with only six errors in 686.1 innings played

Looking at the advanced stats is where things get even more impressive for him, as he has an absolutely exceptional ability to hit efficiently,  ranking in the top 50% of most advanced stats in his first full year.  According to BaseballSavant, he ranks in the following percentiles:

  • 80th percentile or above: Chase rate (88th percentile) & Walk % (82nd percentile)
  • 60th percentile to 80th percentile: Max exit velocity (65th percentile), xwOBA (68th percentile), Strikeout % (75th percentile), Whiff% (61st percentile), Sprint speed (77th percentile)

There are only two major concerning bits of information on his page as a whole, those being outs above average and arm strength.  For outs above average (2nd percentile), this measures the effect he individually has on outs he is credited with, compared to how many he may have missed.  Arm strength (11th percentile) is somewhat self explanatory, which is why we see Steer at first base more often than not (429.0 out of 686.1 innings this year).

Overall though, he has been an absolute boon to the success of the Cincinnati Reds this season.  As they sit at 47-39 currently, they are one game ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers for the division lead.  If they continue this way, odds are that playoffs may be within range for the young up-and-coming roster.