The Cincinnati Reds won Day 1 of the MLB Draft, where they were able to take three prospects that filled their farm systems biggest needs.
The Cincinnati Reds farm system has huge strengths and a few glaring weaknesses. Their strength is in their position player maturity. They have a ton of high floor infielders in their system. To pair with that, they have a good number of high ceiling pitchers that were drafted young and developed in their system.
Cincinnati's front office decided to pair their high ceiling pitching with two polished college arms in round 1 of the 2023 MLB Draft. This gives them the perfect mix of projectable and polished arms in their farm system. They then used their second-round pick on a young, projectable high school shortstop. Their top end infield talent in their farm system will allow them to be patient with this athletic teenager.
Cincinnati Reds land college RHPs Rhett Lowder, Ty Floyd and high school SS Sammy Stafura
MLB Draft experts nailed the Reds No. 7 overall selection, as the Rhett Lowder to Cincinnati rhetoric began weeks ago. This storyline became a reality on Sunday, when Lowder became a Red at pick 7. The former Wake Forest ace has one of the highest floors in the entire MLB Draft, giving Cincy a three-pitch pitcher that should work through their system quickly. The 21-year-old should be able to begin 2024 at the Double-A level.
Cincinnati then paired Lowder with another College World Series star, Ty Floyd of LSU. Floyd has one of the best fastballs in the entire class, maybe only behind his former teammate, Paul Skenes. The development of Floyd's off-speed and command could take him to another level within the Reds system. He didn't strike out 17 Florida Gators hitters in the College World Series on accident.
After playing it rather safe with their first two picks, Nick Krall and the Reds front office landed on an 18-year-old shortstop prospect, Sammy Stafura. The Clemson commit is an incredible athlete that could end up being the steal of the draft, if things continue moving in the right direction. His ceiling is off the charts.
It's clear the organization went into the draft with a plan and they executed it flawlessly. With the three selections on day 1, Cincinnati came out of the day as one of the biggest winners of the Draft. Hopefully for Cincinnati Reds fans, they won't be picking in the top 10 again for a long, long time.