How Eisenhower grad Tyner Horn turned adversity into a top-100 Reds draft pick
When fourth-grade math lost Tyner Horn’s attention, his mind usually wandered to the same place: a major-league mound.
It was never framed as a wish. Horn carried himself with the belief that professional baseball was waiting for him somewhere down the road.
The road simply turned out to be more winding than he imagined.
Horn lost his place as Nebraska’s Friday night starter this spring, moved to the bullpen and had to rebuild the confidence that once made the game feel so certain. But by the end of the season, the 2023 Eisenhower graduate was back in the rotation, pitching in an NCAA regional and proving enough to become one of the first 100 players selected in the MLB Draft.
The Cincinnati Reds drafted the 6-foot-2 right-hander with the No. 94 overall pick in the third round this past Saturday. Horn officially signed Thursday for a $647,500 bonus.
“Getting drafted was the only thing I used to think about during fourth-grade math class,” Horn said. “I’ve always thought I was going to be an MLB baseball player, not really just hoping for it, but knowing it was going to happen. So it was a pretty surreal moment when it did.”
Horn watched the draft with his family in Omaha after his parents flew in from their home in Texas. He learned the outcome before his name appeared on the broadcast.
His advisor called and asked whether Horn would accept a certain bonus if Cincinnati selected him at No. 94. To Horn, the decision was a “no-brainer.”
After struggling as Nebraska’s Friday night starter, Horn was shifted to the bullpen. Rather than view the move as a permanent demotion, he used the shorter appearances to regain trust in his pitches and clear the mental clutter that had followed him onto the mound.
The confidence returned. So did his starting job.
Horn finished 3-3 with a 4.03 ERA and one save in 22 appearances, including 12 starts. He struck out 87 batters in 82 2/3 innings, held opponents to a .241 batting average and helped Nebraska win 43 games and host an NCAA regional for the first time since 2008. He delivered a career-high nine strikeouts against Ole Miss in the Lincoln Regional.
Cincinnati’s evaluators looked beyond the midseason role change. Reds amateur scouting director Joe Katuska said the organization projects what players can become, not merely what their statistics or college roles suggest.
“We saw physical ability to be a starting pitcher and are excited about him moving forward,” Katuska told MLB.com.
That belief offers the first clue about Horn’s professional path.
Most newly signed Reds draft picks first report to the organization’s spring training complex in Goodyear, Ariz. Because Horn already threw a career-high 82 2/3 innings this spring, Cincinnati could use the rest of the summer for evaluation and development rather than adding a heavy workload.
His first full-season assignment will likely come in 2027. Single-A Daytona would be the conservative starting point, but Horn’s experience and status as a third-round college pitcher could put High-A Dayton within reach. The rest of Cincinnati’s ladder runs through Double-A Chattanooga and Triple-A Louisville.
Horn had already shown starter durability as a sophomore, making 17 starts — tied for the third-most in a season in Nebraska history — and striking out 76 in 85 2/3 innings.
“I’m very grateful for Nebraska because I definitely feel like it was a gift,” Horn said. “I feel like it was a perfect opportunity and a perfect situation for me.”
Nebraska was not always part of the plan.
Horn originally signed with Wichita State in 2022, but he was released from his letter of intent following a coaching change. He ultimately followed former WSU recruiting director Mike Sirianni, who had joined Nebraska’s staff.
The detour turned into three years of development and, eventually, a relationship with Cincinnati. Horn received an invitation to the MLB Draft Combine in Phoenix, where he performed in front of scouts and began building a connection with the Reds.
His baseball foundation was formed much closer to Wichita.
Born in College Station, Texas, Horn moved at an early age and grew up in Bentley, attending Halstead before transferring to Eisenhower after his freshman year. The move took him from a small-school setting where nearly everyone knew him to a Class 5A school where he had to establish himself again.
“If you stubbed your toe in Halstead, everybody knew about it,” Horn said. “At Eisenhower, you were more of a number in the crowd. I made some lifelong friends there, so I still appreciate all of that.”
Horn became one of the Wichita area’s most dynamic high school athletes. He was Eisenhower’s starting quarterback, starred as a two-way baseball player and developed into the No. 3 prospect in Kansas in his recruiting class.
As a junior, he went 5-1 with a 0.46 ERA and earned AV-CTL Division II Pitcher of the Year honors. His senior season was even more dominant: a 6-0 record, a perfect 0.00 ERA and 65 strikeouts against nine walks in 38 1/3 innings. He allowed only 12 hits and was named the Class 5A Pitcher of the Year.
Horn still credits former Eisenhower baseball coach Mike Warren with strengthening the mental side of his game — lessons that became especially valuable when this past college season veered off script.
Now the boy who spent math class picturing a professional future has a contract, an organization and a chance to make that future real.
“The Reds are getting the ultimate competitor,” Horn said. “I’m someone who just wants to win. I know the Reds want more of that, so I think I’m the perfect guy that they need and I’m going to go out there and win.”
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