C. Notes: Whom could the Reds take with the No. 2 pick in the draft?

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C. Notes: Whom could the Reds take with the No. 2 pick in the draft?

The Cincinnati Bengals are off the draft clock, which means draft talk moves about a half-mile down the street to the Cincinnati Reds.

For the third time in the last nine drafts — but just the fourth time ever — the Reds have the second pick in this year’s draft. Though the draft is still more than two months away, the draft class has started shaking out, and the good news is that the Reds can identify their top two choices and be assured of one of those players.

So, just who might those players be?

• IF/OF Charlie Condon — Saturday, the University of Georgia redshirt sophomore tied and broke the Bulldogs’ single-season and career home-run records in the team’s doubleheader split with No. 1 Texas A&M. Condon, a right-handed hitter, tied both records previously held by Gordon Beckham. In the second game, he hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning that would give the Bulldogs a 5-2 lead in a game that finished 5-4. It was Condon’s 29th home run of the season and 54th of his career.

Here’s a caveat for all the offensive numbers you will see in the rest of this section — the college game seems to have juiced bats and juiced balls as well as a lack of dominant pitching, so offensive numbers are wild.

That said, even in a year of wild numbers, Condon’s are ridiculous. In 43 games and 167 at-bats, Condon is hitting .461/.567/1.090. Not only does he have 29 home runs, but he also has more walks (37) than strikeouts (34) and has been hit nine times. He even has three steals in four attempts.

Condon has played third base and center field this season but probably profiles more as a corner outfielder or first baseman. His ability to play those other two positions this season certainly hasn’t hurt him.

Condon is No. 1 on Keith Law’s draft prospect rankings for The Athletic.

• 2B Travis Bazzana — There are two strikes against Bazzana on first look. First, he’s a second baseman and doesn’t offer much positional flexibility. Second, he’s from Australia. But the country has baseball, and he even played in its pro league before coming to the United States for college at Oregon State. That said, Bazzana has shown that hitting with two strikes doesn’t bother him. The 22-year-old Bazzana flat-out rakes. Entering Sunday’s game against Oregon, Bazzana was hitting .412/.576/.932 with 20 home runs and just 21 strikeouts and 52 walks (and has been hit five times).

The fact Bazzana is limited to second base and still in contention for 1-1 is an indication of the confidence scouts have in his bat.

• 1B/LHP Jac Caglianone — Caglianone’s calling card is power, both at the plate and on the mound. His power at the plate is so great that even though he’s left-handed, throws 98 and has a good breaking ball, there’s little to no talk about his continuing as a two-way player after he’s done with the Florida Gators.

Caglianone has 26 home runs for the Florida Gators and hit one in nine games in a row earlier this month, tying the NCAA record for consecutive games with a homer. Overall, he’s hitting .404/.502/.871. He has just 15 strikeouts and 28 walks in 171 at-bats. Caglianone has the most raw power in the draft, according to most draft observers.

On the mound, Caglianone has 58 strikeouts and 35 walks in 48 1/3 innings pitched over 10 starts with a 5-0 record and 4.10 ERA. Caglianone has already had Tommy John surgery, and though he profiles as a reliever in pro baseball, the injury risk of pitching taking his bat out of the lineup is too great. He’s probably limited to first or a corner outfield spot.

• 1B Nick Kurtz — Kurtz can hit, but is also limited to first base. Kurtz is hitting .307/.500/.811 with 18 homers for Wake Forest. He has 47 walks and 26 strikeouts on the season.

• 2B JJ Wetherholt — Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Wetherholt can hit and is limited to a non-premium defensive position. Wetherholt has been limited to just 18 games with West Virginia because of a hamstring injury, but in those 18 games, he’s hitting .328/.506/.569 with three homers and five doubles among his 19 hits.

Wetherholt will play against Pitt on Tuesday at PNC Park and then come to Cincinnati for three games against the Bearcats.

• RHP Chase Burns — Burns transferred from Tennessee to Wake Forest after last season. Burns would be a top prospect if he’d stayed in Knoxville, but going to Wake Forest has made him even more attractive to teams because of Wake Forest’s pitching factory. Burns is 8-1 with a 3.26 ERA and a 0.94 WHIP in 11 starts. Over 69 innings, he’s struck out 127 batters and walked 21 with two hit batters.

Burns has not only hit 100 mph, but also his slider is exceptional and his changeup has improved with the Demon Deacons.

Whom will the Reds take? That depends on the Cleveland Guardians. I’ve heard rumblings that Cleveland likes Bazzana, and if the Guardians do go that way, I’m not sure the Reds can pass up Condon. If the Guardians take Condon? My guess at this point is Caglianone, Bazzana or Burns.

Clinching in April

The Reds won’t see the Philadelphia Phillies again, finishing their seven-game season series with one of the favorites in the National League wild-card race within the first month of the season. Though it could seem like a small thing with the pennant chase several months away, the Reds’ split of the four-game series with the Phillies at Great American Ball Park combined with taking the series in Philadelphia gives the Reds a tiebreaker over the Phillies if they end up tied for one of the wild cards. With the expanded playoffs, there are no more play-in games, so tiebreakers are more important than ever.

“I think it points to how everything matters — every pitch, every inning, every game,” Reds manager David Bell said. “You set out to win in that way and let everything happen for you. When you do that over and over again, things like that are going to matter at the end.”

Checking in on old friends

For the first time since the Reds traded him, Jesse Winker seems to be finding his stride. Winker, 30, signed a minor-league deal with the Washington Nationals this offseason, made the roster and was even hitting third on Opening Day at Great American Ball Park.

Winker, an All-Star for the Reds in 2021, hit just .214/.337/.318 with 15 home runs over the last two seasons with the Seattle Mariners and Milwaukee Brewers. With the Nationals this season, he’s hitting .286/.400/.451 with three home runs, including a grand slam Saturday against the Miami Marlins.

Winker is healthy after battling injuries in both of his previous stops. On Opening Day, Winker looked slimmer and was moving better in the field. Statcast data backs up the eye test. Winker has never been and never will be a burner. His sprint speed of 26.1 feet per second is still shaded blue as below average, but last year his sprint speed was 23.5 feet per second, the same as then-Brewers teammate Rowdy Tellez. The last season Winker had a sprint speed above 26 feet per second was in 2020, when he had a 26.4 feet per second sprint speed.

The week that was

The Reds went 3-4 against two teams that have been in the World Series recently, splitting their home series with the Phillies and then going 1-2 against the Rangers in Texas. The Reds sit at 15-13, behind the Chicago Cubs and Brewers.

The week ahead

The Reds have three games in San Diego against the Padres before returning this upcoming weekend against the Baltimore Orioles, one of the game’s most exciting teams.

Injury updates

• C Tyler Stephenson (right hand) was not in Sunday’s lineup after being hit by a pitch in Saturday’s game against the Rangers. The Reds reported that X-rays taken Saturday showed no fracture and Bell told reporters that Sunday was a scheduled day off. Stephenson is considered day to day.

• OF TJ Friedl (right wrist fracture) was expected to play in an extended spring training game Sunday night in Arizona and is expected to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Louisville later this week.

• RHP Ian Gibaut (right forearm strain) has made two scoreless appearances for Triple-A Louisville after starting a new rehab assignment. He’s walked three, struck out three and allowed a hit in 1 2/3 innings.

Minor League roundup

• Triple-A Louisville Bats (13-14): Veteran 1B Mike Ford hit .455 in spring training but didn’t make the team. He asked for — and was granted — his release, but after surveying the market, he re-signed with the Reds on a minor-league deal. Ford’s kept up the pace he set in Arizona since joining the Bats, hitting .299/.386/.552 with six homers and 14 RBIs in 87 at-bats. He even has a pair of steals.

• Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts (5-15): IF/OF Ivan Johnson is off to a good start with the Lookouts, hitting .286/.487/.510 over 17 games with a pair of home runs in his third year at Double-A Chattanooga.

• High-A Dayton Dragons (9-12): OF Jay Allen II was 5-for-6 Sunday and is hitting .378/.465/.649 with three homers in 10 games. The 21-year-old has five walks and seven strikeouts in 44 plate appearances.

• Low-A Daytona Tortugas (12-10): OF Ariel Almonte hit four home runs in the six-game series against St. Lucie, including two in Saturday’s victory. He has seven home runs on the season and six in the last nine games. Almonte was 0-for-5 Sunday, but he came up in the ninth with the tying run on third and the winning run on first. After a wild pitch advanced the winning run to second, Almonte hit a fielder’s choice to the first baseman that scored the tying run and the winning run scored on the throwing error from St. Lucie’s first baseman.

(Photo of Charlie Condon: Brian Westerholt / Four Seam Images via Associated Press)