Reds pick college transfer Antone in fifth round

The Reds selected right-handed pitcher Tejay Antone with their fifth-round pick (155th overall) in the First-Year Player Draft on Friday.

Antone spent this year with Weatherford College in Texas after he spent his freshman year at Texas Christian University in 2013. For Weatherford, he was 7-6 with a 2.88 ERA and a team-leading 84 1/3 innings pitched.

During his freshman season at TCU, Antone was used sparingly.

"At the year-end meeting with the TCU coach, he said he saw me as a bullpen guy for them next year [this season]," Antone told the Weatherford College athletics website in April. "I wanted to start in college, so I let him know I was going to transfer to Weatherford College to start and get my innings in."

Listed as 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds, the 20-year-old Antone has a letter of intent signed to pitch next season for Auburn. According to the MLB.com scouting report, he has a 91-93 mph fastball and can touch 95 mph with some sink. He has a changeup, slider and curveball, but the secondary pitches have not drawn praise in the scouting reports.

"He's another big guy with a really good arm," Reds senior director of amateur scouting Chris Buckley said. "He did well at TCU. Our game is just a lot different than college baseball. There is a lot more patience on our side to develop. Their game is about winning. They wanted to put him in the bullpen. Tejay wanted to start and get drafted."

Antone was a 22nd-round pick of the Mets as a high school senior, but elected to go to TCU.

The Draft concludes Saturday, with exclusive coverage of Rounds 11-40 beginning on MLB.com at 1 p.m. ET.