The Reds selected right-hander Rhett Lowder with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft. Here are a few things you¡¯ll want to know about this strong college arm out of Wake Forest.

FAST FACTS
Position: RHP
Ht/Wt: 6-foot-2, 200 lbs.
B/T: Right/right
DOB: March 8, 2002
College: Wake Forest
High school: North Stanly (New London, N.C.)
Born: Albemarle, N.C.

He¡¯s already stocked up on hardware

Lowder became Wake Forest¡¯s first ACC Pitcher of the Year in 2022. He doubled down in 2023, becoming just the second pitcher to win the award twice (Danny Hultzen, 2010-11). What¡¯s more, in honor of his second selection, the team surprised him with a video of congratulations from teammates, friends and family, which may just be the sweetest thing you see today.

We should mention one more honor, just for good measure ¨C Lowder was also the third unanimous All-American selection in Wake Forest baseball history in 2022, following Will Craig (2015-16) and Stuart Fairchild (2017).

There¡¯s a story behind his recruitment

One would assume, based on his status as one of the top amateur pitching prospects in the sport, that schools were knocking down Lowder¡¯s door with college offers. That was not the case. In 2019, Lowder, a rising senior, hadn¡¯t received offers from any prominent programs. That summer, Wake Forest¡¯s associate head coach, Bill Cilento, went on a recruiting trip to Atlanta and ran into Don Hutchins, Lowder¡¯s travel ball coach, who pitched him on his young right-hander.?

¡°[He] said, ¡®I promise you this, if you take this kid at Wake Forest, he¡¯s going to be a first-team All-ACC pitcher.¡¯¡± Cilento later recounted to Mitch Light of The Athletic (subscription required.)?

Hutchins, of course, was proven right twice over. In the words of Wake Forest head coach Tom Walter, ¡°We took him, obviously, and it was the greatest decision we ever made.¡± Hard to argue with that.

His fastball velocity has exploded - but not at the cost of his command

One of the reasons Lowder didn¡¯t get a ton of attention in high school was because his fastball hung around in the 80s. In college, he¡¯s been clocked as high as 97 mph. Despite the rapid acceleration, he still has great control -- in his breakout sophomore season, he had 105 strikeouts against 26 walks in 99 1/3 innings - and he discussed his command with ACC Radio in 2022 in the midst of that breakout.

"I credit a lot of that to having to learn how to pitch when I didn't throw that hard. I didn't always throw 95, 96 ... in high school, I got recruited because I was able to pitch and command the zone around the mid-80s,¡± he said, later adding, ¡°It's all about confidence in the game. It doesn't matter what the count is, you can't throw a pitch if you don't believe in it.¡±

He contains multitudes

Is he the most interesting prospect in the world? We¡¯ll let you decide. In high school, Lowder was a member of the National Honor Society and Beta Club, which promotes academic achievement, leadership and service. On top of all of that, he was also the president of the North Stanly chapter of the National Art Honor Society.

There¡¯s already a mystique around him

In 2023, Lowder led the staff of a Wake Forest team that set new program records in wins, conference wins and conference series wins. They then went on to become the first No. 1 seed to reach the semifinal round of the ACC Baseball Championship since 2013. Walter was asked what he felt separated his team from those that had fallen short in the 10 preceding seasons. His response, in part?

¡°Well, we have Rhett Lowder.¡±