That’s better than Round B!
Years ago, Major League Baseball instituted Competitive Balance rounds to be inserted into the usual draft order as a method to provide the 10 lowest payroll teams (and 10 smallest market teams) with a little extra pep in their draft step. Competitive Balance Round A falls immediately after the first round, while Round B comes immediately following the second.
Not only does it give these clubs an extra pick near the top of the draft, it factors into their overall draft bonus pool amounts, too - in other words, the pick is nice, but it could well be used as a way to go overslot with other picks to sign away players who otherwise might end up taking the college route.
Anyway, the 2025 Comp Round picks were announced on Thursday evening, and the Reds landed the 6th pick in Round A. Joe Trezza of MLB.com relayed the news.
The Reds held a Round A pick back in 2023 and selected pitcher Ty Floyd out of LSU, who we all hope to see much more of in 2025 after he’s battled through injury. Last year, they held a pick in Comp Round B and again turned to LSU for pitcher Luke Holman. In 2022 they held a Round A pick again, and that was used on Sal Stewart - who now finds himself pretty universally ranked among the game’s Top 100 overall prospects.
You’ll also recall that these picks are the lone MLB draft picks that can be traded. The Reds once famously used that (along with Shed Long) to trade for Sonny Gray of the New York Yankees, and they do carry some serious bargaining power. Obviously, Round A picks carry much more weight than those of Round B, so the Reds, at mininum, picked up a pretty nice trade chip on the eve of the Winter Meetings.
