Cincinnati Reds and their 2017 Rule 5 Draft selection

The Cincinnati Reds plan

With the Cincinnati Reds in rebuilding mode, the Rule 5 draft is a place to pick out talent. Likewise, this team is experimenting at the major league level. So, there was a sense that something was going to happen on the last day of the Winter Meetings. After an uneventful one headline wise for the Reds, the franchise was fielding calls on Billy Hamilton.

Aside from that, the club’s news contains their activity in the Rule 5 draft. The Reds are one of the teams still in rebuild mode. They have an influx of talent close to the MLB. There is a lot of inexperience there, but that is helped by augmenting veteran talent around those guys.

The Reds front office has worked diligently to acquire talent in all aspects whether it be drafting, international signing, and rare trades. With that said, the franchise has done what it can to build from the ground up and produce a sustainable contender.

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They are a team a year or two away from contention, that means only making calculated risks in the process. Look at what the White Sox are trying to do. The Reds most likely won’t make a major impact move, but they could do something surprising. It seems like there is news swirling in all crevices of the MLB, so who knows what could happen.

The Cincinnati Reds Rule 5 action

The Reds had the 5th overall pick in the 2017 Rule 5 draft. With that selection, the team took righty Brad Keller.

He went 10-9 with a 4.68 ERA in 130.2 innings at Double-A. He is a pitcher that doesn’t give up a lot of homers, but he lacks control. The right-hander had a BB/9 of 3.93 and a HR/9 of 0.48.

Keller is only 22 and he still has time to improve. He does have a nice cutter that is able to tie up hitters. He probably won’t be ready for major league action until 2019, but it is just another young arm to add to the system. But, the Reds dealt him to Kansas City for cash consideration/PTBNL.

Next: First trade of the FanSided Winter Meetings Simulation for Reds

There were a few teams that also traded their pick for future assets such as the White Sox and Phillies. The Reds were another team going in that direction. They took advantage of what the team had. Hopefully, the club does this in the near future (cough cough Billy Hamilton/Raisel Iglesias trade). There is still a long way to go before the next MLB game is played, so there is a lot of time for the stove to heat up.