Reds draft 17-year-old third baseman considered a top-10 prospect

Coller would have been a member of the 2023 draft class, but he earned his GED and enrolled this spring at Chipola, a junior college, where he hit .333 with eight home runs in 52 games. He had signed to continue his college career at Louisville.

MLB.com ranked Collier, who turns 18 on Nov. 20, the eight-best prospect in the draft. PerfectGame.org ranked him the sixth best.

“Most of the excitement about Collier centers around his left-handed bat,” the MLB.com draft profile on Collier reads. “He has a loose stroke with outstanding bat speed and uncanny bat-to-ball skills. For most of the summer, he squared just about everything up, using the whole field and not being bothered by premium velocity, and he continued to show professional at-bats this spring. There’s good raw power in his swing, with more likely to come. While he’s not a burner, he’s a solid runner.”

ESPN draft expert Kiley McDaniel predicted he would be drafted fourth overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates as did Keith Law, of The Athletic.

Law wrote, “He’s a third baseman now and good enough to stay there with a 70 arm and the agility to handle the position as the game speeds up. At the plate, he’s more than held his own against much better pitching than what he saw in high school; he’s had some expected issues with breaking stuff but also shown he can adjust to some of those pitches and stay back to take them the other way. He needs to add some more strength to better control the barrel as well as make harder contact, as his hands work well enough at the plate for him to be a plus hitter with average power.”

Collier is the son of Lou Collier, who played eight seasons in the big leagues with five teams from 1997-2004.

“I have a lot of information that other guys don’t have,” Collier told FoxSports.com. “I was fortunate to have a professional coach at all my games and at home growing up.”

The Reds had three more picks on Sunday night. With the No. 32 pick, which was compensation for losing Nick Castellanos to free agency, they drafted another third baseman: Sal Stewart, of Westminster Christian School (Fla.).

With their second-round pick, No. 55 overall, the Reds drafted Mississippi State catcher Logan Tanner. With a pick in the Competitive Balance Round B, the No. 73 pick, the Reds selected Oregon State outfielder Justin Boyd.

The draft continues at 2 p.m. Monday with Rounds 3-10. The final day, with rounds 11-20, begins at 2 p.m. Tuesday.