Cincinnati Reds: 3 biggest draft disappointments since 2010

3. Nick Howard was the Reds first-round pick in 2014.

Nick Howard, a right-handed pitcher, was selected by the Cincinnati Reds with the No. 19 pick in the 2014 MLB Draft. That may have been the highlight of Howard’s professional career. Howard was key to the Virginia Cavaliers march to the College World Series that season and was the team’s closer.

Howard quickly fell out of the Reds Top 5 prospect list according to MLB Pipeline and dropped all the way down to No. 16 in 2015. Cincinnati had hoped to develop Howard from a reliever into a starter, but the experiment failed and Howard returned to the bullpen.

Howard’s first professional season saw him post a 2-1 record with a 3.76 ERA. That was the height of Howard’s success, as the following season, the right-hander’s ERA ballooned to 6.63 at Single-A Dayton, and then went even higher when he promoted to Advanced-A Daytona in 2016.

An injury kept Howard out of baseball during the the 2017 season, but returned to pitch for both Advanced-A Daytona and Double-A Pensacola in 2018. Howard owned a 5.13 ERA in 38 relief appearances.

Nick Howard was released by the Cincinnati Reds in June of 2019 having new er reached Triple-A or posting an ERA below 3.50. While others have fallen short, few players have missed the mark as much as Howard. Gold Glove third baseman Matt Chapman was taken six picks after Howard in the 2014 draft.