Photo: Doug Gray
Major League Baseball announced the competitive balance draft picks for the 2026 draft earlier today. Those picks are available to organizations that are generally considered to be small market teams based on a formula that looks at several factors. This year 15 teams qualified for the picks. Cincinnati was given a competitive balance Round B pick for 2026. The Reds will have the 4th pick in that round, which will follow the 2nd round.
Cincinnati will draft 18th or 19th overall. The exact spot will be determined next week. If the New York Mets, through the draft lottery, get a spot in the top six, it will push the Reds to the 19th spot. But if the Mets don’t land in the top six, the Reds will stay at the 18th spot. In rounds 2-20 the club will draft 19th in each round.
The Competitive Balance Round B pick for the Reds will fall somewhere in the range of the 74th pick. It is a pick that can be traded and Cincinnati has moved a competitive balance pick in the past multiple times.
These Competitive Balance picks have been around since 2017. They fall after the 1st round and after the 2nd round. Here’s who the Reds have selected when they’ve had a pick after the 2nd round during that time:
2018: RHP Josiah Gray2020: Catcher Jackson Miller (retired after playing just 14 games in three seasons due to multiple injuries)2022: Outfielder Justin Boyd (traded)2024: RHP Luke Holman
Ever since the draft spending has had a cap to it and each pick is assigned a “pool amount”, how teams go about spreading their draft pool dollars has been an interesting strategy for clubs. Sometimes they will push a lot more money to the 1st round pick and then draft guys higher than expected in order to “save” money that they pushed elsewhere in the draft. That’s a strategy that Cincinnati has used several times. That might be tougher to do in 2026 as their 1st round slot doesn’t come with nearly as much pool value as a pick in the top 10 does, and having the 2nd round competitive balance pick instead of a 1st round one it’s a big chunk of change of difference.
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