When you’re picking 27th in the draft — as the Reds were Thursday — you don’t look for quick fixes or draft for need.
The Reds used their picks in 2011 and 2012 to take high school right-handers Robert Stephenson and Nick Traviseo.
They broke from that this year by taking center fielder Phillip Ervin from Samford University. Ervin, a junior, hit .337 with a .459 on-base percentage, 11 home runs and 40 RBIs this year. He was the MVP of Cape Cod League last year.
Ervin, according to scouting reports, has plus power and speed.
“Most players we’re drafting are three, four, five years away,” scouting director Chris Buckley said told the Cincinnati Enquirer.
The Reds did draft Mike Leake in 2009 and he made it to the big leagues without any time in the minors.
“That doesn’t happen very often,” Buckley said. “More often they’re like Todd Frazier or Devin Mesoraco, it takes four, five years to get here. I think the teams that do the best realize that it’s not like football where the player you draft can impact your club right away. It’s rarely, rarely that way.”