Home
    Articles
    Sammy Stafura (Photo: Aldrin Capulong/Daytona Tortugas)
    Photo: Aldrin Capulong/Daytona Tortugas

    2024 Cincinnati Reds MiLB Hitter of the Year: Sammy Stafura

    Doug Gray 13

    The professional debut of Sammy Stafura was a bit of a struggle. After the Cincinnati Reds used their 2nd round selection on him in 2023 he played in just 12 games for the Arizona Complex League Reds and went 3-42 (.071) with 23 strikeouts. Things went a lot better for the teenage shortstop in 2024.

    When the 2024 season began for most players, it didn’t quite begin for Stafura. The Cortland, New York native didn’t make the opening day club for Daytona and he remained in Arizona for extended spring training. In early May the complex league season began. After going 1-4 with a walk in the first game, Stafura went 4-4 with a walk, double, and a triple in the next game. After two games he had more hits than he had in the 12 games the previous season. He didn’t slow down over the next three weeks and was hitting .346 through 15 games out in Arizona when Cincinnati decided it was time to send him to Daytona to join the Single-A Tortugas.

    He would go hitless in the first game with Daytona, but the next three games all saw Stafura pick up an extra-base hit. While he didn’t remain as hot as he was out in Arizona where the league is incredibly hitter friendly, things went quite well in the best pitchers league in the minors for the Tortugas infielder. In his 77 games after joining Daytona, Stafura would hit .255 with 52 walks, 20 extra-base hits, and he would steal 27 bases to give him 31 of them on the year. And he did all of that while playing a quality shortstop nearly every day (he only had a handful of starts as the team’s designated hitter).

    On the surface, a .255/.374/.379 line doesn’t jump out at you. But when we factor in the Florida State League’s pitcher friendliness, Sammy Stafura posted a 120 OPS+ on the year – which means hitting wise, his OPS was 20% better than the league average.

    Between the two stops, the 19-year-old hit .270/.387/.412 with 31 stolen bases, 27 extra-base hits, 64 walks, and 104 strikeouts in 92 games. His 31 steals were 4th best in the farm system. Among players in the organization with at least 400 plate appearances his 15.2% walk rate led the way. So did his .387 on-base percentage. Stafura finished 4th in the system in OPS

    While the headline and award is for “hitter” of the year, it’s not simply just about “hitting”. It’s more about offensive performance and that’s going to include baserunning. It was that additional value that gave him the slightest of edges in this one for me. On a much tinier input scale, I also consider the position someone plays (as well as their age relative to level) since the expectation for offensive performance varies depending on where someone does play on the field.

    Sammy Stafura’s 2024 Stats

    Sammy Stafura 2024 stats

    Doug Gray
    Doug Gray is the owner and operator of this website and has been running it since 2006 in one variation or another.

    Related Posts

    13 Responses

    2. Was Collier the 1st runner-up? Just noticed they are almost identical ages – Stafura is 5 days older, and Collier had a very quiet, very good season in Dayton. Each is in position to have a big breakout season, while others were flatter, or suffered injury time last season.

      1. Collier was realistically the only other player that I considered. It was a coin flip. At Baseball America we went with Collier and I think that it’s a perfectly reasonable choice to make.

        1. Guys like Sal Stewart, Ethan O’Donnell or even Levi Jordan and Edwin Rios have no chance?

          1. Older guys in Triple-A have no chance. Stewart didn’t play enough. Ethan O’Donnell was good, but not quite on par with the other two IMO.

        2. Thanks Doug – I was looking at the rosters and it seemed they were the only 2 with good, full seasons. Really expecting Arroyo and Stewart to match them this season – having 4 of them performing like this in A+/AA would really set up nicely for 2026. Need to clear out the mess that was AA this past season.

    3. I’ll be very curious to see what Stafura’s Florida State League 10 doubles and 6 HR’s translate to in the Midwest league next year.

      Also, he’s listed at 6’0″ and 188 but watching him last summer and in the video, he sure looks closer to 6’2 than he does a six footer. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he’s had a growth spurt. So, there is certainly room to add strength.

      I was impressed with Stafura’s range and actions as short stop as well. He just has that type of glide to him. It remains to be seen if his tools translate to the ungodly speed of the game in the major leagues, but he sure looks like a quality infielder.

      You never really know what you’re getting with kids from the more northern states, as they just don’t have the opportunities to be on the field as much as the “baseball states.” The same can be said of our other very interesting short stop draftee, Tyson Lewis, from Oklahoma (where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain). The scouts sure earn their money checking and cross checking these kids.

      2. It had not occurred to me, but a HS/College coach I know once explained, among several other tips, that he looked for 15-17 year olds with minimal leg hair – i.e. they hadn’t hit their last growth spurt/physical maturity. I expect that’s standard among scouts, and wouldn’t surprise me if that applies here. Beyond simple conditioning/workouts/etc., if you can get a prospect who is also literally growing, that simply adds another few ++++ to the potential.

    4. Stafura, Collier, Stewart and Co. are a promising young core.

      Also, thank you Doug for explaining OPS. I occasionally forget what the advanced stat acronyms stand for, and you effortlessly explain them.

      1. As always I highly encourage people to look up what a stat is if they don’t understand it, its often a pretty simple explanation. What I dislike is when people avoid this and immediately go to the “What are all these fancy stats these days, they don’t mean jack squat” reaction. No stat is be all end all, but to brush them off simply because you’re uneducated in them is a bit disappointing.

    5. For quite a while Stafura was projected to be the Yankees first round pick but slid the Reds on draft day. I figured then the Reds got an absolute steal and he’s proving me right so far. Long way from the majors but the all-around tools are there for him to be starting SS someday.

    Comments are closed.