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Cincinnati Reds Draft History
All tables below are based on the amount of WAR each player produced during their first seven seasons in Major League Baseball. The WAR totals for each draft class include both Pitching and Hitting WAR, but excludes any player that did not sign with their drafting team. The total WAR also reflects the total value the drafted player provided, not just the value to his drafting team.
*Data accurate through 2019 season.
Top Five Draft Classes
Year
Team
WAR
1965
Cincinnati Reds
56.9
1980
Cincinnati Reds
50.4
1998
Cincinnati Reds
49.2
1983
Cincinnati Reds
38.3
1969
Cincinnati Reds
37.1
Bottom Five Draft Classes
Year
Team
WAR
1996
Cincinnati Reds
-0.1
2001
Cincinnati Reds
0.0
1972
Cincinnati Reds
0.0
1973
Cincinnati Reds
0.0
2000
Cincinnati Reds
0.6
This list excludes any season past 2010, since those draft classes have a multitude of active players.
Top Five Draft Picks
Year Drafted
Round
Overall Pick
Name
WAR
1965
2
36
Johnny Bench
35.6
2002
2
44
Joey Votto
32.3
1985
1
4
Barry Larkin
28.3
2010
1
12
Yasmani Grandal
27.4
1980
8
200
Eric Davis
24.5
List made from top five WAR values alone.
Five Biggest Busts
Year Drafted
Round
Overall Pick
Name
WAR
1983
1
2
Kurt Stillwell
2.3
2002
1
3
Chris Gruler
No MLB Experience
1992
1
5
Chad Mottola
-0.7
1984
1
5
Pat Pacillo
-0.1
1972
1
7
Larry Payne
No MLB Experience
List made from first round picks that produced less than 5.0 WAR in their first seven seasons and ordered by lowest overall pick.
Top Five Value Picks
Year Drafted
Round
Overall Pick
Name
WAR
1969
29
682
Ken Griffey
17.5
1989
11
290
Trevor Hoffman
12.6
1976
21
503
Eddie Milner
11.1
1978
15
381
Gary Redus
10.7
1998
17
500
B.J. Ryan
8.2
List made from top five WAR values where a player was drafted outside of the first ten rounds.
Top Five Unsigned Draft Picks
Year Drafted
Round
Overall Pick
Name
WAR
1982
2
51
Barry Larkin
28.3
2002
23
675
Nick Markakis
20.2
2001
35
1056
Nick Markakis
20.2
2004
31
918
Jake Arrieta
19.7
1982
7
181
Bobby Witt
14.7
List made from top five WAR values where a player did not sign with the team.