2021 MLB Draft: Cincinnati Reds late-round strategy

Before the third day of the MLB Draft and the final 10 rounds, Cincinnati Reds scouting director Brad Meador said he asked the team’s area scouts one question.

Who are the draft prospects you really believe in and are willing to stand on the table for?

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The Reds concluded the MLB Draft on Tuesday with the 10th through the 20th rounds of the draft. Cincinnati made 10 picks and selected seven pitchers and three position players.

“It’s a lot of the area scouts that have done a lot of the work, it’s a lot of the gut-feel guys that people are really fighting for and standing up for,” Meador said. “We came in today and said who are the guys that our guys really want and are fighting for. Put them up here, and let’s go through them one last time and see which ones stand out the most.”

The Reds didn’t draft a high school player after the first round. Meador said that wasn’t planned, and the Reds have several drafted high school position players already in the lower levels of the organization, including No. 6 prospect Rece Hinds and No. 8 prospect Tyler Callihan.

Overall, in the 2021 draft class, the Reds added nine college position players, one high school outfielder and 12 college pitchers.

“You know you’re not going to be able to get high school players today unless you have extra money, which we didn’t,” Meador said. “Coming into today, we knew that was the case. At the same time, we took high school guys last year. We have some really talented and exciting young players in our system… It fits our organization right now and our system. Some of these college guys will be able to move (quickly), and it helps us balance out where we are as an organization.”

After the draft, Meador said the new players will report to Goodyear, Arizona, in the next week to 10 days. When everyone gets a physical and gets signed, the Reds will have a rookie mini-camp. After that’s over, the Reds will send many of the players to their Minor League affiliate teams.

“Based on how far along everyone is and where they are with playing in games and how much build up they need to get back on a team, we’ll do that one-by-one,” Meador said. “Then we’ll decide where they need to go and who needs to go and who needs to stay back and the timing of all of it.”