4 MLB Draft sleepers the Reds should consider before taking Seth Hernandez

MLB Draft sleepers the Reds should consider before taking Seth Hernandez

Gavin Fien, 3B, Great Oak HS (CA)

The Reds for the most part have stuck up the middle with their first round picks in recent years. This year's crop of Day 1 prospects are chock-full of those types of players that will be available to the Reds. The prep class has a surplus of shortstops, a demographic the Reds are familiar with in the early rounds, so if there's a year they may move off of the college players in the first round for the first time since 2020, this would be the year.

With the amount of shortstops at the top end of the class, Gavin Fien has slipped through the cracks as one of the more underrated prep prospects. Following a strong performance on the summer circuit in 2024, Fien was looking like one of the best prep position players in the class.

Unfortunately due to a down year compared to expectations at a lower-tier high school this spring, he has slid toward the back half of the first round on plenty of mock drafts. However, there are some evaluators that are still completely bought into what Fien could provide as a top-10 pick.

Fien is a 6-foot-3, 200-pound third baseman with average to above-average tools across the board. Although he played shortstop for the majority of his high school career, he has already made the expected move to third base due to his size and the fact that his bat will play better there. Although he's not a plus runner, he's an above-average athlete that can handle the hot corner well, and can potentially move to right field due to his strong arm if he needed to.

While he looks like a reliable defender, his bat is what is going to land him in the first round. It's a healthy combination of hit and power, and there's a lot to dream on as he continues to grow. He has plenty of bat speed and has produced some of the top exit velocities in the prep class. He produces more line drives than fly balls, but has shown an ability to get to that power stroke from time to time as well. A simple tweak to find it more consistently may make him a very dangerous hitter at the next level.

He turned 18 in March, making him one of the younger prospects in the class, and won't be draft-eligible again until after his junior year at Texas. With that being said, it would probably take at least a slot-value deal to land Fien at ninth overall, but if the Reds are really bought in, this is certainly a bat I can see them betting on with their first-round pick.

Ethan Conrad, OF, Wake Forest

If the Reds want to take a Wake Forest product with their first-round pick for the third year in a row, Ethan Conrad is a prospect they can probably get some good value from at ninth overall. If they want to stay in the college class but pivot back to the bats from which they've found recent success, Conrad fits the mold of what the Reds are looking for.

A left-handed hitter standing in at 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, Conrad is a physical athlete, but has a lot of athletic upside for his size. He played the majority of his games at first base in his first two years at Marist, but only played the outfield in his two years of summer ball as well as his junior year at Wake Forest prior to his season-ending shoulder injury. The outfield is where he should settle in at the next level due to his athleticism and arm. He'll probably stick in a corner role, but can cover center field when needed.

Prior to the shoulder injury, Conrad was looking like one of the best hitters in college baseball. He has an above-average hit tool with excellent contact rates due to his aggression in the zone and patience on pitches out of the zone. He really started to tap into his power stroke this year as he grew into his frame and added strength. It's definitely a bat with top ten upside, but the fact he wasn't available deep into conference and postseason play leaves evaluators with some unanswered questions on how it might play in pro ball.

Conrad doesn't turn 21 until right before the draft, so he's a little younger than most of the draft-eligible juniors which is one more thing the Reds draft model might like. The injury is the only reason he has slid as far as the competitive balance round, so if the Reds believe it won't be a lingering issue, they should be able to get him well under-slot, which could end up looking like a true steal in a few years. It certainly fits the approach they've taken in previous drafts, so I wouldn't be surprised if Conrad is a name pretty high on their board right now.

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