Reds have plenty of options with three picks in top 40 of draft

“The Reds are all over the map in this class,” the ProspectsLive.com staff wrote. “We could see them going any number of directions, though all signs point to the team being in a wait-and-see mode. Chandler is an explosive athlete with a bright future on the mound or at the plate. He certainly fits the mold of high-upside prep that the Reds have coveted in recent years.”

McDaniel talked to baseball writers on a Zoom call Thursday and said the Reds have done a solid job in the first round in recent years. Second baseman Jonathan India, the No. 5 pick in 2018, debuted in April and leads all National League rookies in RBIs (35) and on-base percentage (.392). Tyler Stephenson, the No. 11 pick in 2015, leads all rookie catchers with a .279 average. Pitcher Nick Lodolo, the No. 7 pick in the 2019 draft, will represent the Reds in the Futures Game on Sunday.

“Obviously, Chris Buckley (vice President of player personnel) has been a big name in that room for a while and has a very specific point of view of looking for upside,” McDaniel said, “not really caring what the publications say, which I think he said verbatim to me before. They don’t mind going off the board.”

The draft was shortened from 40 rounds to five rounds in 2020 — when the Reds drafted outfielder Austin Hendrick with the 12th pick — because of the pandemic and will last 20 rounds this year. It starts at 7 p.m. Sunday with the first round. Rounds 2-10 will take place Monday. The final 10 rounds will be held Tuesday.

This year, the Reds have their lowest pick in the first round since 2014 when they drafted Nick Howard with the 14th selection. They also have two other picks in the top 40. They received a compensation pick — No. 30 overall — when Trevor Bauer signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

They also have the fifth pick — No. 35 overall — in Competitive Balance Round A, which gives extra picks to “teams that have either one of the 10 smallest markets or 10 smallest revenue pools.”

“They’re one of the more interesting teams in terms of the rumors,” McDaniel said. “You get on a phone call with somebody that doesn’t have a tie to Cincinnati or a player tied to them, they almost always will have a theory about what the Reds are going to do. Picking 17, 30, 35 and 53 means they have a bunch of money, more than the teams picking around them, which then gives them the option. Everyone thinks they’ll take advantage of it, but it doesn’t always work out that way: to move that money around and go way over and way under and float guys down the board and do all kinds of stuff.”

One name who could be available at No. 17 for the Reds is Miami University right-handed pitcher Sam Bachman, who ranks 14th on a MLB.com list of the top-100 prospects. Bachman, a 6-foot-1, 235-pound junior from Fishers, Ind., went 4-4 with a 1.81 ERA in 12 starts this season. He struck out 93 batters in 59 2/3 innings.

A mock draft by ProspectsLive.com predicts Bachman will go to the San Francisco Giants with the No. 14 pick. He would be the first first-round pick from Miami, whose biggest big-league success story in recent years, Adam Eaton, was a 19th-round pick in 2010.

“(Being selected in the first round) would mean a lot just because I would be able to represent Miami,” Bachman said in a story posted to Miami’s website this week. “They have sacrificed so much for me to become the player I am, so I’m proud to wear Miami across my chest.”

McDaniel ranked Bachman 29th among the top-200 prospects and predicted Bachman would go to the Miami Marlins, with the No. 31 pick, the first pick of the Competitive Balance Round A.

“Second-best raw stuff in the class (behind Jackson Jobe),” McDaniel wrote on ESPN.com, “hitting 101 mph and a slider that some call a 70-grade pitch. Scouts worry about some indicators of relief risk but rave about his makeup.”