The Cincinnati Reds had three picks in the Major League Baseball draft last night. You can read all about the picks here if you haven’t already (and if you haven’t, you really should go check them out). They wound up with Tennessee third baseman Nick Senzel, Georgia High School outfielder Taylor Trammell and Clemson catcher Chris Okey. In the video above I spend a few minutes with my thoughts on the draft and answer a few questions.
Overall I think that the Reds did an outstanding job on day one. They landed the player that I had ranked atop my personal draft board with Nick Senzel. They then went out and grabbed outfielder Taylor Trammell, who was ranked as the #13 prospect in the entire draft by Baseball America before snatching up Clemson catcher Chris Okey to start the second round. If you want to base things off of how the crew at Baseball America has things, the Reds landed two of the top 13 prospects in the entire draft as well as the 52nd best prospect with Okey. That’s crushing it.
Obviously you’ve got to be able to sign all three guys for it to matter, but I would be flat out shocked if they weren’t able to sign these guys and get them on the field. The Reds have talked with all three guys and their agents/advisors and know what they are all asking for. The signing deadline is in mid-July, so there won’t be any long hold outs that keep guys from playing this year. The new signing deadline is one of my favorite things they’ve done with the draft in recent years as it gets guys signed on playing instead of seeing guys debut 10-12 months later because they held out and didn’t sign until August 15th and never got onto the field that season.
What’s interesting is that the team didn’t select a pitcher. Since Chris Buckley took over as the Scouting Director for the Reds in 2006 the Reds have only gone without selecting a pitcher in the first two rounds two times prior to this past season. In the 2008 draft the team only had one pick in the first two rounds and used it to select Yonder Alonso (they selected a pitcher with their next pick, but it wasn’t until the 3rd round). Then in 2010 they didn’t select a pitcher until the 5th round. I doubt they make it to the 5th round before selecting a pitcher this year like they did in 2010, and wouldn’t be surprised to see them grab a larger group of pitchers today than position players as they complete rounds 3-10.