Reds select Rhett Lowder in Round 1 of the 2023 MLB Draft

The Cincinnati Reds have had a lot of success with recent first-round picks.

Drew Koch

Rob Manfred, commissioner of Major League Baseball speaks / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The Cincinnati Reds are hopeful that their first-round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft yields similar results to what they've seen over the last several years.

Current Reds players like Matt McLain, Hunter Greene, Jonathan India, and Nick Senzel, all of whom are huge parts of this year's Cincinnati team, were all taken in Round 1 of the MLB Draft.

Following the first-ever draft lottery, despite finishing the 2022 season with the fourth-worst record in Major League Baseball, the Reds landed the No. 7 pick in the 2023 MLB Draft.

Reds select Rhett Lowder in Round 1 of the 2023 MLB Draft.

With the seventh-overall selection in the 2023 MLB Draft, the Cincinnati Reds went with Rhett Lowder from Wake Forest. The right-hander is arguably the safest pick in the entire draft after No. 1 overall pick, Paul Skenes.

LSU's duo of Skenes (Pittsburgh Pirates) and Dylan Crews (Washington Nationals) went first and second on Sunday night. Florida's centerfielder Wyatt Langford went No. 4 overall to the Texas Rangers and was sandwiched between high school outfielders Max Clark (Detroit Tigers) and Walker Jenkins (Minnesota Twins).

Grand Canyon shortstop Jacob Wilson went sixth-overall to the Oakland Athletics, opening the door for the Reds to take the second-best college pitcher in the draft, Rhett Lowder. The other college pitcher that was assumed to be on the Reds radar during the 2023 MLB Draft was Tennessee's Chase Dollander.

Lowder went undefeated in 2023, going 15-0 with 1.87 ERA and 143 punch outs in 120 innings of work. Lowder is seen as an advanced pitching prospects, much like current Reds pitcher Andrew Abbott was back in 2021.

Don't be shocked if Rhett Lowder makes his way to the big leagues within the next two seasons. The Cincinnati Reds continue to load up on pitchers in Round 1 of the MLB Draft. Lowder joins former first-rounders Hunter Greene (2017) and Nick Lodolo (2019).

Drew Koch

Drew Koch has been an MLB Staff Writer since January 2024 and part of the FanSided Network since June 2018. Drew's contributions have been published on Blog Red Machine, Friars on Base, BoSox Injection, Lombardi Avenue, Wildcat Blue Nation, Motor City Bengals, and many other sites within the FanSided Network. When he's not cheering wildly for the Cincinnati Reds or the Kentucky Wildcats, Drew enjoys fishing, golfing, playing cribbage and other card games, listening to country and classical music, and spending time with his family and friends.