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He sounds like a great guy to take sub-slot...

Im not claiming to be Baseball America.

Im just going off what my eyes saw.

Im a strong UT baseball supporter so Im sure I saw more than most but when you watched the games he always hit leadoff and all they ever mentioned was his hitters eye and how he had a 50 something game on base streak.

I never said he sucked in the field just that his strength was his hitting.

I was personally hoping they'd take UTs 2nd baseman Max Ferguson who went like 6 picks later.

Dumb rules question:  *IF* they hypothetically sub-slot in rounds 1-10, are they allowed save some of that in order to superslot in rounds 11-20?  Or is $150K (or whatever) the max for 3rd day picks, regardless of whether they spent their shots on days 1+2? 

The former.

8th round, another guy who'll turn 23 this month.  Four straight picks who are either already 23 or will turn 23 by the end of July.  Maybe they liked Triantos and Gray more than I thought? 

I don't know enough about the draft class as a whole to have a meaningful opinion, but based on the writeups I'm seeing, it seems that the Cubs are stretching for upside wherever possible, even with their signability picks. Chavers, for example, was likely 1st round material before he tore his labrum in 2019. Getting that guy as a 23 year old, post-injury, we'll sign him cheap, but there's a ceiling well beyond the traditional college senior draftee.

Obviously the first rounder isn't a traditional upside pick, but if a guy you have in the top 10 finds you at 21, you have to be pretty happy about that.

BA:

Chavers ranked as the No. 167 prospect in the 2020 class and likely would have ranked higher than that if it wasn’t for an arm issue that prevented him from playing at all in the shortened season. Plenty of scouts really liked the five-tool ability Chavers has shown, but they wanted to see more collegiate production and were a bit worried about some of his swing-and-miss tendencies. This spring, Chavers led the Chanticleers in hitting and posted a .318/.407/.477 line with five home runs and lowered his strikeout rate from 18% in 2019 to 13%. Listed at 5-foot-11, 185 pounds, Chavers is a plus-plus runner with above-average defense, above-average arm strength and at least solid raw power. He didn’t tap into as much in-game juice this spring as he showed in 2019, but that overall tool set from a lefthanded-hitting center fielder is typically coveted by scouts. What could complicate Chavers’ draft stock is his age. He’ll be 23 just after the draft and how teams decide to weigh that could lower him on some boards. While Chavers does have the tools for an everyday profile, he has struggled throughout his collegiate career against lefthanders, and this spring hit just .246/.313/.328 against them in an admittedly small sample—though he also struggled against southpaws in 2019

BA:

Watkins is no stranger to playing in various environments, having started his career at Cal Poly in 2019 before transferring to College of Central Florida in 2020, where he went 4-1, 1.91 with 44 strikeouts in 28.1 innings. He found a home in Oregon State’s bullpen this season, where he was used as a situational lefthander. Watkins has a long frame at 6-foot-4, 217 pounds, with a fastball that sits 90-92 mph. He commands the pitch well, and has shown the ability to spin his hammer curveball. He also throws a cut-action slider and changeup, with good deception thanks to his arm speed. Some evaluators believe he has the stuff to start, although he has just 14 collegiate starts to his name.

Cubs wrap up the draft with another 23-year-old in round 10.  So five of their last 6 picks were either 23 or will turn so by end of the month. 

The 9th rounder is only 21, a lefty reliever.