Bleacher Bums Forum

..I though 2018 and 2019 the Cubs had turned a corner in the draft under Dorey.  This is a step back to me.  The best drafts are going to manage their risk, so take a high upside guy that might flame out and get some college guys to mix in.  The Cubs outside of a very few picks have risk adverse and I think that shows in their results. 

I think Moreno would be the 5% overage, assuming the Cubs have enough money to spend that.

yeah, if 1-4 are just slot and Moreno gets the composite 5% overage, maybe that's all the overslot that he needed. 

Blue, it's a bummer for us as fans that this minor league season is lost.  Would have been a great chance to see the 18 draft play out:  is davis a top-end prospect?  Is Franklin a real prospect?  If Roederer a bust, or will he start to look he really is a prospect?  Is Hoerner a back-of-roster guy, or is he actually a capable rotation or starter-level big-league 2B? 

Last year's draft was stocked with college pitchers, so it would have been super interesting to see whether Jensen is just too chronically wild to get excited about, or is he actually a guy who might be really good?  And can he last and start, or is he pretty much relief-track, as most draftnicks kind of expected from him?  McAvene had some really nice numbers at Boise; can he actually pitch in full-season, or is he a chronic wildman who'd have been exposed quickly enough in full-season?  Clarke got zero draft pub, but his Boise numbers were great, he's young, and he's huge; might pitch lab and development get more velocity from him, and he'll be really good?  (Many of the system rankings had him as high or higher than McAvene this winter.)   How about Herz or Schaeffer, would any of them provide hints that they might become meaningful prospects? 

Would have been so interesting to get another year of info on all of those guys from the last two drafts. 

https://bastian.mlblogs.com/i-think-its-a-great-fit-i-m-super-excited-q-a-with-burl-carraway-6f924b2307a

“He’s pretty special,” Heefner said. “He legitimately has two pitches that are borderline unhittable. The fastball and the curveball. It’s shocking that he didn’t go higher than he did, because with the Trackman data they have today, where you can compare guys to everybody across the country, I’ve heard several organizations say that his fastball and his breaking ball graded out the best in the whole Draft.”

I think the last relief pitcher that the Cubs converted to a starter was Andrew Cashner.  He was fairly good for a while.

Bleacher Report likes the Cub draft:  https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2895870-2020-mlb-draft-results-easy-to-view-grades-for-each-franchise

Up there in the realm of surprising headlines with "Sun rises in the East".

All college pitchers.

Lifted this from the Cubs Draft Tracker guy re. Koen Moreno, the HS 5th rounder.

Gave an interview with a local podcast guy.

Q: Do you have an idea if you're gonna if you're gonna pick between heading to college VCU and signing with the Cubs?

A: Yeah, so I mean, it's definitely you know, this draft is so different because, you know, they want kids to sign. So I believe that I am going to sign with the cubs. Um, so yeah

Dan Kantrovitz was on the Cubs Weekly podcast (Marquee Network) and they had Callis on after him.
-They went for tools because they believe in the player development system
-Burl has the stuff to get out major leaguers, but he still has things to do
-Little needs a lot of work. They are going to send him to the pitch lab and work on his delivery and pitches, but you can’t teach the velocity
-Nwogu needs to rework his swing, but a lot of power/speed
-He didn’t really touch a lot on the 5th rounder

Callis
-would rank Burl ahead of Jensen and Strumph (I wouldn’t he be closer to 15-17.  Relievers are relievers. Jensen could still start.
-Howard would be 4th ahead of Amaya.
-Really likes the 5th rounder and thought he wouldn’t be singable.

I like the focus on tools. They need to focus that on guys that could be a starting pitching. When you look at the Cubs starting prospects Franklin might be the only guy that doesn’t have reliever risk and has a ceiling higher than a fifth starter.