Cincinnati Reds select Tennessee 3B Nick Senzel with second overall pick in MLB Draft

The Cincinnati Reds used the #2 overall pick in the 2016 MLB Draft to select 3B Nick Senzel from the University of Tennessee, adding a talented right-handed bat to their prospect stable.  Baseball America's JJ Cooper was all over the news just before the actual selection happened, calling Senzel an "advanced college bat/gamer with tools."

Hopefully, that means he shows up ready to play, though I suppose if it means he's a Call of Duty pro that's OK, too.

Senzel stands roughly 6'1" and 200 lbs, and has been a consistent high average, high OBP bat throughout his time at UT.  Our own Derek Grimes profiled Senzel as a potential target for the Reds several times, most recently on June 1st, and at the time we pretty universally settled on the concept that he's a pretty polished bat that should move quickly to the big leagues if things go well.

John Sickels of Minor League Ball had this to say about Senzel just about a month and a half ago:

The main question for Senzel is the glove. He's a decent athlete with average running speed, though his stolen base instincts are quite good. The arm is his best defensive tool and it is plus, but until this year he didn't have a firm position, spending his first two seasons as a DH and second baseman. He's at third base now and has played well enough to stay there in pro ball; he won't wow you with his tools, but as with his baserunning the instincts help everything work.

Senzel will be a first round pick and his bat should get him to the majors fairly rapidly. He should go in the top ten picks for a team looking for an advanced hitter and he could be in the top five.

The Enquirer's C. Trent Rosecrans also had a great profile of Senzel recently, ripe with plenty of quotes from UT coach Dave Serrano, including a few choice comparisons to former UT product Todd Helton at a similar age.

The Reds have followed a pretty consistent pattern of sending their top overall picks to Billings for rookie ball, and it hasn't mattered whether they were a high school draftee (like Tyler Stephenson) or a proven college bat (like Phil Ervin).  With that in mind, I'd expect to see Senzel report there shortly after he and the Reds sign on the dotted line and make this official.

Welcome to the fold, Nick, and congrats.