The Cincinnati Reds have selected Rhett Lowder with the 7th overall pick in the 2023 Major League Baseball draft. Lowder, a right-handed starting pitcher from Wake Forest was not selected out of high school.
Rhett Lowder Scouting Report
Height: 6′ 2″ | Weight: 200 lbs
Bats: Right | Throws: Right | Position:Pitcher
Highest Ranking: 6th – MLB Pipeline
Rhett Lowder went 15-0 at Wake Forest this past season. He posted a 1.87 ERA in 120.1 innings while walking 24 batters and striking out 143 of the 470 hitters he faced (30.4%).
Arguably the most polished pitcher in the draft, Lowder doesn’t have much projection remaining, but he’s advanced right now. His fastball works in the mid-90’s and touches 97 MPH with good movement on the horizontal plane. His slider and change up both work in the mid-80’s in terms of velocity. The change up is a potential plus offering with tons of fading action to it. The slider is an above-average offering that has a chance to get a small bump with more consistency.
Lowder pounds the strikezone and he can do so with all three of his pitches. He should be a quick mover once he gets on the mound and really gets his career started – but don’t expect him to really get going until spring of 2024. The late draft date seems to have really put a stop on turning pitchers loose after the draft due to being shut down for 6+ weeks after the end of their high school/college seasons.
Rhett Lowder Video
Rhett Lowder College Stats
| Year | Age | W | L | ERA | IP | H | HR | BB | K | WHIP |
| 2021 | 19 | 4 | 2 | 6.12 | 67.2 | 79 | 14 | 22 | 78 | 1.49 |
| 2022 | 20 | 11 | 3 | 3.08 | 99.1 | 91 | 9 | 26 | 105 | 1.18 |
| 2023 | 21 | 15 | 0 | 1.87 | 120.1 | 90 | 9 | 24 | 143 | 0.95 |
| Career | 30 | 5 | 3.29 | 287.1 | 260 | 32 | 72 | 326 | 1.16 | |
Instant Reaction
Not the highest upside pick, but Lowder was considered the second best pitcher in the draft by almost all accounts and if that’s what you can get at the 7th spot in the draft, that’s not a bad deal. Considered to be polished, if he can move quickly and get to the big leagues fast – think something like Nick Lodolo’s timeline – that’s going to turn out to be a very good thing.
Scouting Director Joe Katuska on Rhett Lowder
On what he liked about Lowder:
The competitiveness, the pitchability, the stuff – it doesn’t get talked about as much as we feel like it should be. He’s not a soft tosser out there, he’s throwing 92-96 every time we saw him this spring with an above-average to plus slider and change up. His team the last two years at Wake was 32-3 when he took the ball on Friday night and he was the ACC pitcher of the year twice. It’s a long performance track record, and the stuff, command, and control lines up to be a Major League starting pitcher.
On how quickly he could move through the system:
He should be able to move pretty quickly. Obviously we have to recognize that he threw a lot of innings this year at Wake and we need to protect his long-term potential and not doing anything reckless out of the gates. But I would anticipate that he’s going to be a relatively quick moving college pitcher.
For information on all of the Cincinnati Reds 2023 Draft Picks click here