The Cincinnati Reds went off the beaten path in the 19th round on Sunday afternoon, selecting Matt Ponatoski out of Moeller High School.
Ponatoski is already a big name on the high school scene. At Moeller, he stood out not only as a baseball player but also as the school’s quarterback, and he picked up Gatorade Ohio Player of the Year honors in both football and baseball during the 2024-25 school year.
Even with the Reds calling his name, Ponatoski is committed to the University of Kentucky, where he intends to play both football and baseball. At this point, it appears more likely that he follows through on that college plan than signs with Cincinnati.
“Matt will go down as one of the top players to ever walk the halls at Moeller High School, which is saying a lot,” Moeller High School baseball coach Tim Held told WLWT's Kurt Knue.
For the Reds to change that path, they’d probably have to come with a massive signing bonus.
The pick also arrives with a little historical reminder. MLB.com recently ranked the best Draft selection in the history of each of the 30 organizations, and for Cincinnati, the choice was a franchise icon.
"One of two members of the first-ever Draft class of ’65 in this story, Bench trails only Nolan Ryan (the other one listed here) among those drafted and signed in WAR, with 75.1," MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo wrote. "That mark tops all drafted catchers and the Hall of Famer was a 14-time All-Star who won 10 Gold Gloves, a pair of MVPs and the Rookie of the Year Award."
Bench said he didn’t know much about the Reds when they drafted him.
“The only thing I knew about the Reds at the time was they had lost to the Yankees in ’61,” he told Brian Frank of The Herd Chronicles. “Mantle of course was my idol, being from Oklahoma.
That’s all I knew about them. Then I started reading about them and they’d had Frank Robinson, Joey Jay, (Wally) Post, and Vada Pinson, guys that were really, really good players.”
Bench spent 17 seasons with Cincinnati, hitting .267/.342/.817 with 389 career home runs. He also led Major League Baseball in RBIs in 1970, 1972, and 1974.
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