(670 The Score) For the first time since 2015, the Cubs will have a top-10 pick in the MLB amateur draft.
The Cubs will select at No. 7 overall when the draft gets going Sunday, their first pick among the top 10 since taking outfielder Ian Happ at No. 9 overall seven years ago. Despite the Cubs’ lack of homegrown pitching, the expectation is they’ll take a position player, and vice president of scouting Dan Kantrovitz hinted at that being the case.
“It’s been been pretty well-documented that this draft has a lot of high school hitters that will go high,” Kantrovitz said. “Whether or not that comes to fruition, only time will tell. I think that pitchers will percolate at some point for clubs, but there are a lot of good young hitters available in this draft.”
Kantrovitz didn’t discuss the top prospects by name, but he discussed the Cubs’ approach in general.
"We look at makeup a lot,” Kantrovitz said. "It takes a special person to succeed out here at Wrigley Field. We have put a lot of emphasis on makeup through the evaluation process. It’s about Zoom interviews, conducting interviews in players’ homes, meeting their parents, talking to college or high school coaches. We consider certain evaluations from a psychological aspect as well. We put a lot of weight on that because we must evaluate the person on how they think. It’s an inexact science, but the more we put into it, it makes us confident we know who we are drafting.”
Many draft experts have only position players going in the top 10. If a pitcher is to sneak into the top 10, it would likely be Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Prep (Michigan) right-hander Brock Porter or perhaps Alabama left-hander Connor Prielipp, who was a projected top-five pick before undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2021.
MLB Pipeline analyst Jim Callis projects the Cubs to select Chipola Junior College (Florida) third baseman Cam Collier, the son of former MLB infielder Lou Collier.
“I always say you have to go with the best player available on your board,” Callis said on Inside the Clubhouse on 670 The Score recently. “You are limited to what you can spend on the draft with the way the bonus pools work. If you see how the clubs maneuver with the amount of money they max out at, you can see some different choices than what is predicted. I think they will take the best player on their board regardless of if he is a college or high school player. But it will probably be a college player because all of the top high school players will likely be gone when the Cubs pick.”
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
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