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    Cincinnati Reds sign two more top 10 draft picks

    Doug Gray 31

    The Cincinnati Reds signed 1st round pick Steele Hall and 3rd round pick Mason Morris on Friday. Both guys signed for under the slot value of their pick. They’ve added two more signings this weekend as Baseball America is now reporting that 6th round pick Braden Osbolt and 7th round pick Justin Henschel have put pen to paper. That gives the Reds four signings that have been officially reported thus far.

    Both Osbolt and Henschel were selected out of college last week. Both guys also missed much of the 2025 season due to elbow injuries that resulted in both of them undergoing Tommy John surgery.

    The right-handed pitching Osbolt was taken out of Kennesaw State and threw just 17.0 innings this spring with three walks and 13 strikeouts before his season came to an end. When healthy he had been up to 97 MPH with his fastball and he had generally thrown plenty of strikes, but he also didn’t miss many bats and he gave up plenty of hits during his three years on the mound in college. He signed for $297,500, which was $79,600 below the slot value of the pick.

    Like Osbolt, Henschel was also selected out of college. He began the year with Florida Gulf Coast but threw just 12.0 innings in 2025 before his season ended with the elbow injury. He didn’t give up a run in that time and had five walks to go along with 13 strikeouts. Henschel also topped out at 97 MPH with his fastball. His control wasn’t terrible in his first two years, but it wasn’t good either as he walked 64 batters in 131.2 innings pitched. His bonus came in at $222,500. That was $72,500 under the slot value of the pick.

    When you look at the four signings that the Reds have made thus far, all four have been below slot value and have added up to Cincinnati having $983,200 of “extra” pool money to spend elsewhere in the draft. Where that money is going to go, we aren’t quite sure of yet. And really, with the up to 5% overage before having to give up next year’s 1st round draft pick, there’s a bit more than that $983,200 to spend if they need to in order to bring in the guys that they want.

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

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    31 Responses

    2. I can’t help but think the Reds would not have drafted Ethan Moore and Myles Upchurch if they didn’t plan on signing at least one and quite possibly their intent was to sign both of them.

      Projected to go about 100, Ethan Moore’s slot value was about 775,000. Projected to go about 170, Myles Upchurch’s slot value was projected at 400,000.

      The Reds could offer Moore and Upchurch 160% of their slot value at this point and sign Moore for $1.2 Million and Upchurch for $675,000. I think there is a good chance both sign for these amounts.

      If that is not enough, I am pretty sure Moore would sign for $1.725 million (223% of slot value) and even more sure Upchurch would sign for $1.725 million (431% of slot value)

      1. Take Neville for example he went from a draft slot previously in round 18 with the Reds to being drafted again by the Reds to having a slot value of $667,700, so you could be on to something.

        Before reading your post I was thinking that the extra funds will be going to Watson and Pitts.

      2. Wow the reds making deals yo! Why were those 2 guys so cheap compared to the others?

        1. Pre-draft agreements/arrangements more than likely.

          The FO does A LOT of homework to prepare for the draft.

      3. Do not forget Mason Neville,
        He is going to be over slot by a good chunk.
        So, more and upchurch are both backup plans for Neville.

        2. Imagine that. A player maximizing his negotiating power by saying that. I have no doubt if the Reds offered him $5 million he would sign. I have no doubt if the Reds offer him $500,000 he will go to Tennessee. The question is, Is there a price the Reds would be willing to pay and he would be willing to accept? I can’t help but think the Reds talked to him about a price prior to draft day. Teams put a lot into these drafts to maximize value. I am sure they don’t continuously draft under-slot players unless they plan to go over-slot somewhere. Maybe Moore will go to Tennessee and they drafted Upchurch as a back-up plan. But I am hoping Upchurch is a supplemental plan.

        3. I think the reason he and Upchurch were drafted in very late rounds instead of rounds 3 thru 5 is because they resisted the attempts of teams to negotiate a viable level. All of that negotiation is largely done before the draft.

          When a player is drafted very late, it’s because they either 1) want to play college baseball and are perfectly comfortable with whatever they get in NIL or 2) returned a level so high it was unreasonable and untenable for any team to meet (like $5M) given their prospective draft rank.

          So I believe the chances are slim and close to none (based on what they said and/or tweeted after the draft) that either of these players sign. But the Reds will try, no doubt.

        5. It’s definitely a negotiating tactic, like you said, there is a price point where they will sign, but there definitely is a point. I won’t be shocked if neither sign, it’s by far the most likely option, but there is a non 0% chance they sign.

        6. I suspect Aaron Watson and/or Eli Pitts are going a good bit over slot and will be taking a large chunk of the excess.

        7. @Duke for some kids it’s not so much about money. They have the NIL and they may just want the college and college athletic experience, and at the same time they may increase their stock before they are eligible for draft again.

          So while you say there is a price point, true, but it may be ridiculous. Not everything is solved by money for every young athlete.

        8. Yeah, I’m sure the “college experience” plays a bit into it, but none of these guys are delaying pro baseball to go to microbiology labs every afternoon.

          Stock is right. They all have a number that will give up the college experience for. It isn’t like they can’t go to college if they flame out in baseball.

        9. The point is, if they are selected in a very late round, it likely means they have refused to give a tenable number to any team and they have decided to go to college.

          Like I said, sure, there’s a number for all kids, but for the very late round guys it’s likely well out of reach. There’s a reason they weren’t selected 3-5.

      5. What makes you so sure those two individuals would sign for what you are sure they would?

      6. My guess is Neville is an over slot player by quite a bit. I wouldn’t get you hopes up on both signing yet.

    3. It’s still unclear how the Reds could use that extra money because Ethan Moore and Myles Upchurch declared on his RSS confirming going to their commitments at Universities of Tennessee and Alabama respectively. Maybe Aaron Watson and/or Elli Pitts will be signed barely overslot …I don’t know, let’s see how they will figure it out

      1. Maybe Pitts took $2 million and Watson $2.5? Signing them is the priority, Moore or Upchurch would just be a bonus, I won’t be heartbroken if we get neither.

    4. This draft signing period is getting weird.

      Willits just signed for $8.2MM, which is a whopping 2,875,900 under slot (11,075,900) for 1-1.

      A record for a high schooler, yes. And not the guy expected to go 1-1 or 1-2.

      But the Mariners signed the top college guy, Kade Anderson, expected at 1-1 or 1-2, and taken third overall, under slot, too.

      I am very curious to see what happens with the Pirates and Hernandez.

      You’d think all these guys signing under slot were seen on the jumbotron at a Coldplay concert or something.

        1. 2024 top ten overslot (five):

          3. Condon
          5. Smith
          6. Cags
          7. Wetherholt
          9. Griffen

          (Burns was basically at slot, as well. But still counts as under).

          In the remaining first round, there were five more overslot and seven at slot.

          So seventeen out of 30 over or at slot.

          It seems odd, that’s all.

        2. Last year was considered much stronger in the top 10. Next year is going to be strong too and a lot more college heavy.

    5. Just have to wonder how much NIL money is influencing the dollars needed for these signings.I understand a couple years ago Ohio State had a young g starting shortstop transfer because he could a $1million from an SEC school in NIL money. Some of the non college Seniors and high schoolers drafted lower might do better financially if they stayed in school. A school like LSU might have a bigger signing pool than the pro teams.

      1. The so-called “House” settlement, where colleges are maxed out of paying athletes $20.5 million, probably weighs against a college team’s paying $1 million for any baseball player. The schools will mostly use the $20.5 for football and men’s basketball, with women’s basketball and baseball being ugly stepchildren. And there will be Title IX challenges to the football-heavy use of the money.

        The “NIL” collectives as used over the last few years have been curtailed.

        The LSUs of the world will get around the limits to an extent, but the combo of more money from the draft and better development/competition in MiLB, is a strong motivator for the player to turn pro.

    6. Neither of those guys is signing. 2 years ago we all hoped that 19th round pick Gabe Gaeckle would sign. He didn’t and will probably be a 1st round pick next year. Last year we hoped that 20th round pick Mason Russell would sign and he didn’t. He was kind of a bust this year but will probably bounce back. The under slot money is going to the unsigned top picks.

    7. MK your spot on the NIL part of this. The top SEC schools have depth pockets. It’s definitely effecting the money to sign these kids. Another former Buckeye ,Pitcher now Atlanta Brave Landon Beidelschies did the same going to Arkansas. He got big money to leave OSU. Money talks. Sure hope the Reds can at least sign Upchurch.

    8. also Tenn LSU and Ark have NIL$ and REgularing having top drafted players who get big money. if a top player gets even $60k for four years while playing in the best
      league a positive gamble

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