Baseball America’s way-too-early 2027 mock draft has the Cincinnati Reds staying on a familiar track: Wake Forest pitching.
That shouldn’t come as a shock. When the Reds have gone hunting in the first round lately, they’ve leaned hard into impact arms and athletic shortstops. Before taking Justin Lebron this year and Steele Hall the year before, Cincinnati used back-to-back first-round picks on pitchers Rhett Lowder in 2023 and Chase Burns in 2024.
Lowder and Burns weren’t just both pitchers. They were teammates at Wake Forest, which makes the Reds’ latest mock-draft connection feel even more on brand.
Lowder’s story is still being written, with flashes mixed in among the injuries and growing pains. Burns, though, has already raced ahead.
He’s been so impressive that the Reds handed him a rare pre-arbitration extension, a seven-year, $105 million deal that stands as one of the biggest contracts in franchise history.
“Right-hander Chase Burns and the Cincinnati Reds are in agreement on a seven-year, $105 million contract, sources tell ESPN. Burns, 23, was an All-Star this season and one of the best young pitchers in baseball.
No club options. A straight deal that will run through 2033.”
So when Baseball America projected the Reds to take another Wake Forest right-hander in 2027, the fit practically wrote itself. Their pick: Chris Levonas.
And this isn’t just a case of matching a school to a team. Baseball America’s write-up on Levonas sounds a lot like the kind of arm Cincinnati already knows well.
The outlet described him as having premium stuff, with a fastball that sits in the upper 90s and has touched 101 mph, plus strong secondaries. It also noted that he worked as a full-time starter for Wake Forest in 2026, posting a 2.82 ERA over 15 starts and 73.1 innings, while striking out 38.9% of hitters - the fourth-best mark in the country among qualified Division I pitchers.
Levonas’ path to Wake Forest also included a detour through the draft. Out of a New Jersey high school, he was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers with the 67th overall pick in 2024, but he passed on that opportunity to honor his commitment to Wake Forest.
There’s still a long way to go before 2027 arrives, and plenty can change between now and then. But Levonas is the kind of name worth filing away. If the Reds keep following the same blueprint, they may be looking at another high-end Wake Forest arm before long.
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