The Cincinnati Reds play in one of the smaller markets in all of Major League Baseball, something COO Phil Castellini will effectively tell you whilst introducing himself. Considering that for most of the last three decades the team itself has been terrible on the field, they’re also one perennially one of the lower-attended teams during their home games – a fact that consistently impacts their overall revenue.
Since 2017, MLB has done its best to compensate the clubs that fall in the bottom ten in revenue or market size – and often both – by establishing Competitive Balance rounds after both the 1st and 2nd rounds of the annual MLB Draft. These are the only picks that can be traded – see the Gavin Lux trade just last winter – and the additions not only give teams with less resources an additional pick, said pick boosts their overall draft bonus pool, too.
The Reds have often had Comp Round A picks, which are the ones immediately after the 1st round, and that’s what they used to draft the likes of Sal Stewart 32nd overall back in 2022. In 2026, though, they’ve landed a Comp Round B pick, as MLB.com’s Joe Trezza relayed on Tuesday afternoon.
The Reds will pick 4th in Comp Round B, a pick that will come somewhere in the early to mid 70s once all the other draft pick influencing moves of the winter are made. Those include the signings of players who’ve been given and declined Qualifying Offers, etc, and will be sorted out well before the draft itself.