Reds add LSU righty, NY prep shortstop on Draft Day 1

CINCINNATI -- On the heels of a star-making turn in the Men's College World Series for the champion LSU team, Ty Floyd became a high Draft pick on Sunday.

With their 38th overall pick in Competitive Balance Round A, the Reds selected Floyd. The slot value for the pick is $2,255,100.

“It’s been a quick turnaround, just coming back from Omaha and then having to come home and get ready for the Draft," Floyd said. "But it’s been a very exciting process for me and my family and all of my other teammates as well. It’s been a great time, it’s been a blessing and stuff. I’m glad we were able to go through it.”

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Also on Sunday, the Reds used their second-round pick at No. 43 to take shortstop Sammy Stafura out of Walter Panas High School in New York. The slot value of the selection is $1,998,200.

Floyd, 21, was 7-0 with a 4.35 ERA in 19 games (17 starts) with 37 walks and 120 strikeouts over his 91 innings. In Game 1 of the College World Series vs. Florida on June 24, he pitched eight innings and struck out 17 batters while allowing three runs and eight hits with one walk. He tied the College World Series for most strikeouts in a non-extra-innings game.

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"We've seen that for a while with him now," Reds amateur scouting director Joe Katuska said. "Big fastball, four-pitch mix, throws strikes. The high school videos of him dunking, we had that five years ago on him. Very athletic kid with a lot in front of him still."

LSU head coach Jay Johnson was an analyst for MLB Network's Draft coverage as Floyd was taken.

“I’m super proud of him. [He has] a really strong mental game, too. They’re getting a guy that I think can move through their system real fast," Johnson said. “We won a national championship because of how good he was down the stretch.”

Considered a potential top three rounds possibility in high school, Floyd endured an inconsistent and pandemic-shortened senior season in Georgia and went undrafted. He went to LSU and kept developing.

Floyd credited then-LSU pitching coach Wes Johnson with turning him into an elite college pitcher.

“One, I think the biggest thing was me locating all of my offspeed pitches as well as my fastball up in the zone and having a lot of confidence in all of those pitches," Floyd said. "[It was] being able to face adversity and failure a lot more, especially at the level I feel like I played at the past three years.

"We played against a lot of good players and I've had a lot of ups and downs and stuff, but it's taught me how to go through them and deal with them and get over that adversity and allow myself to stay confident every outing I go back out there."

When the 18-year-old Stafura learned he had been taken by the Reds, there were torrential downpours in his Cortlandt, N.Y. hometown. That didn't stop him from doing a celebrational leap into a pool.

"I was super, super pumped. I was excited," Stafura said.

Stafura was among the many players that attended the Draft Combine in Phoenix last month and interviewed with Katuska and members of the Reds scouting department.

“I think it was my first meeting. It was just a super, super chill vibe," Stafura said. "It kind of set the tone for all the other ones. It was very, very fun.”

The Reds liked Stafura's athletic skills and believe he will stay as a middle infielder.

"Plus run. Plus arm," Katuska said. "Good shortstop actions with a bat that we've seen and liked. There's power potential. I think people have seen video from the combine of what he looks like -- very strong kid, very hard worker. Really self-made and we like what the future has for him when he gets professional instruction."

Stafura has a commitment to Clemson but plans to turn professional.

“Oh yeah. I’m ready. I’m ready to get to Arizona and get everything going," he said.