MILWAUKEE -- When the Reds gather in their conference room for the 2021 MLB Draft on Sunday, they won’t have a top 5 selection, with the supremely elite prospects likely already off the board when Cincinnati makes its first pick at No. 17 overall.

But this year’s Draft offers a big opportunity to amateur scouting director Brad Meador and the club. The Reds have three picks on the first day. Besides No. 17, they also hold the No. 30 pick as compensation for losing free agent Trevor Bauer to the Dodgers and the No. 35 selection in Competitive Balance Round A.

“For sure. It’s exciting,” Meador said this week. “Obviously, picking at 17 is a little bit lower than we’ve picked recently. But having the extra picks makes it a lot of fun. The last couple of days, we’ve been really digging into a lot more because you have three picks. It’s a lot different than picking fifth or seventh where you can beat up 10-12 guys and then don’t have another pick for 30 picks or so when you know guys are going in between your picks.

“This year just takes a lot longer because you’re beating it up so much more with the group and digging so much more on each guy. It’s certainly a lot more work and a lot more fun, too. It’s exciting to think about, obviously, wanting as many picks as you can, as high as you can. This is a big year and we know it.”

Day 1 of the 2021 MLB Draft will take place from Denver’s Bellco Theatre on Sunday. It will feature the first 36 picks and will air on MLB Network and ESPN at 7 p.m. ET. Day 2, which will span rounds 2-10, begins at 1 p.m. ET on Monday. The Draft will conclude with rounds 11-20 on Tuesday, starting at 12 p.m. ET. MLB.com will simulcast MLB Network’s broadcast and provide live coverage on all three days.

To view when teams pick, the Top 200 Prospects list, mock drafts from analysts Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo, scouting video and more, visit MLB.com/Draft. Follow @MLBDraft and @MLBDraftTracker on Twitter to see what Draft hopefuls, clubs and experts are saying, and to get the news of each pick as it’s made.

The Reds have the fourth-highest bonus pool at $11,905,700. The No. 17 pick’s slot value is $3,609,700, while the No. 30 pick is valued at $2,365,500 and the No. 35 pick is worth $2,095,800.

Draft experts believe that this year’s class has more depth than great players at the top end. That could be a good thing for a team that has extra early picks like Cincinnati.

“I think so,” Meador said. “There are some exciting guys at the top for sure, and there will be some guys you get later that always end up being better than anyone thinks. That’s just how the Draft goes. You pick them as you slot them at the Draft and it certainly doesn’t end up being that way in the big leagues all of the time. I think it’s a deep Draft, deep both in high school and college. I think there are some guys that everybody sees a little differently, but we’re excited about throughout the whole Draft.”

Because of the pandemic shutting down high school and college games, making the ability to scout players limited, the 2020 MLB Draft was only five rounds. It meant a lot of players who went unsigned returned to college to finish their senior seasons.

“Those players that would have been sixth-, seventh- or eighth-rounders last year, a lot of those guys went back to school,” Meador said. “Some of them have put themselves in a better spot. Some are in the same spot.”

The Reds have shown the willingness to take a chance on an exciting high school hitter early. They did it with the 12th overall pick last year by taking Austin Hendrick (the club's No. 3 prospect per MLB Pipeline), 2019 second-rounder Rece Hinds (No. 6 prospect) and 2018 fourth-rounder Michael Siani (No. 5 prospect). The early returns on all have been positive.

Don’t rule out the Reds from doing it again in 2021 with their first selection. They have been linked to high school catchers Joe Mack and Harry Ford and pitcher/shortstop Bubba Chandler. A recent MLB.com mock draft also had them select a college pitcher -- right-hander Sam Bachman -- from just up the road at Miami in Oxford, Ohio.

“I think there are some exciting high school bats. You always want to balance it,” Meador said. “It’s harder to balance in a five-round Draft than a 20-round Draft, certainly. We’ll go for it in some picks and we’ll have some college players that are still exciting players but are a little bit closer. We’ll certainly try to balance the age and balance the risk/reward that goes with the age as well.”