Cincinnati Reds awarded 32nd overall pick in 2017 MLB Draft

The Reds now have a mostly complete picture of how their draft order is going to shake out.

After the regular season was said and done, the Reds found themselves holding the second overall pick in next June’s draft for the second consecutive year, but had to wait for the new Collective Bargaining Agreement to be ironed out to find out the status of compensation and competitive balance picks. Today, the wait is over.

The Reds will receive the second pick in Round A, which translates to the 32nd overall pick in the draft. Four other teams will draft in that round proceeding the Reds before the order reverts back to the traditional draft order for the second round. When it’s all said and done, the Reds will find themselves picking 2nd, 32nd, and 38th; three picks just barely into the official second round.

Jonathan Mayo explains the process for selecting the teams who receive these competitive balance picks in his article for MLB.com:

The Competitive Balance Rounds are no longer determined via lottery. Instead, all teams that fall in the bottom 10 in revenue and bottom 10 in market size will get a pick in Round A, after the first round, or Round B, following the second round. Using a formula that takes revenue and winning percentage into account, six teams were awarded Round A picks, with eight teams getting picks in Comp Round B. The groups of teams will switch in 2018 (meaning there will be eight Comp Round A picks, six in Round B), and will alternate as such for the life of this CBA.

The Rays, A’s, Brewers, Twins, and Marlins will select alongside the Reds in Round A, while the Diamondbacks, Padres, Rockies, Indians, Royals, Pirates, Orioles, and [sigh] Cardinals will select in Round B.

The Reds selected second in the draft as early as last season, but the Reds last 32nd overall selection was in 1993 when they selected OF Pat Watkins, who would go on to appear in only 100 games for Cincinnati over two seasons before moving on to the Rockies and washing out of the minor leagues in 2001.

Last season, the Dodgers selected “The Fresh Prince” Will Smith with the 32nd overall pick. There are several well regarded prospects that have been picked at that selection over recent years; Aaron Judge, Jose Berrios, and Jake Odorizzi were all picked 32nd.

A whole list 32nd overall picks can be found here, courtesy of Baseball Reference and our very own Cy Schourek who linked this for me literally five seconds after the picks were ordered.

The full draft order can be found here.