As the 2025 MLB Draft quickly approaches, the Prospects Live team wants to make your life as easy as possible. In this series of articles, I'll be providing team-by-team analysis of their recent draft trends, their available draft capital for 2025, any areas of the draft they've heavily targeted, as well as a few names in this year's class that might fit into their historically preferred archetype.
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This analysis isn't sourced for the upcoming year, nor is it a guarantee the organization won't pivot from what they've done in the past. Simply put, this article aims to provide an in-depth look at teams and their recent draft classes to try and decipher trends that could help uncover players your favorite team might be targeting. It's far from a perfect science, but I've done my job if it makes things easier to follow on draft day.
Cincinnati Reds
- 2025 Bonus Pool Value - $11,386,800 (15th)
- Top 100 selections - 9, 51, 83
Cincinnati finds themselves with the typical assortment of picks after dealing their compensatory pick this offseason in the deal for Gavin Lux, a deal that bumped them squarely into the middle of the pack in terms of bonus pool allotment. The Reds, an org who tends to follow the public consensus closer than others, have had plenty of success in recent drafts and have built up quite an impressive haul of exciting young prospects. Currently with four top one hundred prospects on the Prospects Live board and plenty more that are exciting in their own right, a strong draft this upcoming summer could position Cincinnati nicely for the upcoming seasons.
2024 Draft Overview
Early returns on the 2024 Cincinnati draft are as good as you could hope for. First rounder and second overall pick Chase Burns ($540,000 underslot) looks like one of the best pitching prospects in all of baseball and is firmly the organization’s best prospect already. Second round high school shortstop Tyson Lewis ($1,250,000 overslot) has been a buzzy name in scouting circles recently, already posting some impressive EV numbers and dominating in his first taste of the complex league. Comp B rounder Luke Holman ($110,000 underslot) looked solid in limited action before being placed on the season long IL a few weeks ago, however he remains a relatively projectable collegiate arm that was slated to move quickly before injury. Third rounder Mike Sirota (slot) has been balling out to start this season and looks dominant at the plate right now, however Sirota was the other piece of the aforementioned Gavin Lux deal and is doing so in the Dodgers organization. Fourth and fifth rounders Peyton Stovall ($7,000 overslot) and Tristan Smith ($150,000 overslot) were nice grabs as well and eighth rounder Luke Hayden ($20,000 underslot) has shown plenty of promise as well. Cincinnati was fortunate to land the second overall pick last season, but it’s undeniable they maximized their talent haul and supplemented an already strong system.
2023 Draft Overview
Opting for another Wake Forest right hander atop their draft, the Reds went with Rhett Lowder ($580,000 underslot) with the seventh overall pick and saved some cash along the way. With their Comp A pick, the Reds went collegiate pitching yet again, this time going for Ty Floyd ($160,000 underslot) out of LSU. Floyd featured big time stuff in college and since returning from injury has looked really good as a pro. They put a good chunk of their savings towards second rounder Sammy Stafura ($500,000 overslot), a NY prep shortstop that has an exciting blend of tools despite playing in a cold weather state. They again went underslot in round three with Arkansas hurler Hunter Hollan ($375,000 underslot) before splurging on tantalizing right hander Cole Schoenwetter ($1,260,000 overslot) out of San Marcos HS in California. Despite the results being somewhat murky for many of their top five picks, to come away with that talent pool early is remarkably impressive. Injuries have been a major reason why this class hasn’t taken off to its fullest potential, however with the quick ascension of Lowder up to the big leagues and Floyd back healthy and throwing it well, they’ve given this class a substantial floor. Anything they get out of the two prep players at the top would take this 2023 class to the next level.
2022 Draft Overview
The Reds went top heavy in this one, landing one of the more premium prospects in the class in Cam Collier ($1,340,000 overslot) at 18 overall. Collier was a JuCo guy out of Chipola so he had some leverage in the negotiation and clearly took advantage, ultimately getting paid like a top ten pick in the draft. That hurt the rest of their spending power, however second rounder Sal Stewart ($270,000 underslot) was a really nice pick up that ended up saving them some money. They understandably went with college players for the rest of the top ten rounds, landing Logan Tanner ($340,000 underslot) in the second, Justin Boyd ($50,000 underslot) in the Comp B round, and Bryce Hubbart ($125,000 underslot) in the third. They managed to land relief prospect Zach Maxwell in the sixth for $50,000 underslot and took a swing with prep pitcher Ben Brutti ($255,000 overslot) in the eleventh, however overall, this class is defined by the top two picks. It’s natural for that to happen given how much they had to go overslot for Collier, but in doing so you put added strain on your player development system, ultimately betting you’ll be able to produce productive players despite being further down your draft board. That hasn’t happened just yet, however a top two of Collier and Stewart is nothing to sneeze at. Maybe not a complete class, but a productive draft nonetheless.
Early Round Demographics
The Reds are a bit tough to pin to just one draft strategy, however I’m most confident in their more recent two drafts being more of a blueprint than their splurge on Collier in 2022. The high floor college player (perhaps another arm) seems like a likely route for them to take given their draft position, and following that up with one of the many prep players that should be available at 51 seems like a natural follow up given their tendencies. Regardless of how big of a swing they take at 9 and 51, I’d expect them to follow up with college talent out of Power Four conferences; They’ve preferred players with some degree of conference pedigree for several years now and I don’t expect that to change all that much. Even Sirota, who didn’t have the conference pedigree, was a name that was a preseason top ten guy in the draft and carried some weight inside of prospect circles.
Their early picks are rarely off the board and tend to follow public circles relatively closely, a strategy that seems to be working relatively well as of late. Look for a relatively high-floor class with a shot or two on prep players with bat speed and pop.
Late Round Demographics
It’s unfortunately been tough sledding for the Reds outside of the first handful of rounds in recent years. They’ve been able to stay afloat with a relatively high hit rate on early picks and savvy trades, however their ability to turn the “hidden gems” within their classes hasn’t been that consistent. They’ve done best with arms, with the aforementioned Maxwell and Hayden showing some promise and 17th rounder JeanPierre Ortiz balling out in Daytona as of writing, however these profiles don’t necessarily elevate the system all that much and act as fringy depth. If they really want to start hitting these drafts out of the park, they’ve got to start turning these mid and late round guys into interesting organizational depth.
Names to Know
Kyson Witherspoon, Oklahoma RHP - A high octane right hander with a tight arm action, Witherspoon attacks hitters by changing hitters’ eye levels and working vertically, a profile the Reds have worked with before.
Gage Wood, Arkansas RHP - This is kind of crazy to put Wood this high, but he’s looked unbelievable so far. With a Wood led Arkansas tournament run and some negotiation on bonus price to save them some cash, I don’t think it’s an impossible outcome.
Brendan Summerhill, Arizona OF - One of the best college bats in this class, Summerhill provides a really nice floor at nine and allows the Reds to take some riskier picks in the following rounds.
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