(670 The Score) The rebuilding Cubs on Sunday once again made adding young pitching a priority.
A year after taking Kansas State left-hander Jordan Wicks with their first-round pick, the Cubs selected 20-year-old Oklahoma right-hander Cade Horton at No. 7 overall in the MLB Draft and followed it up by nabbing 18-year-old left-hander Jackson Ferris out of IMG Academy at No. 47 in the second round.
"When we sat down with (president of baseball operations) Jed (Hoyer) and (general manager) Carter (Hawkins) on Sunday morning, we talked about what an ideal road map we would like to see the draft unfold,” vice president of scouting Dan Kantrovitz said. “In the first round, Cade was our prime target. In the second round, it’s hard to have visibility as to what it will look like, but Jackson was the No. 1 target for us there as well. We were thinking we would have a little bit of money to spread around. It ended up coming to fruition. So when you get two arms like that a high school pitcher who already has three quality pitches and a college pitcher with an electric heater and a wipeout slider like Cade has, those are guys who are pitching development infrastructure probably can't wait to get their hands on.”
Kantrovitz characterized the Cubs’ addition of pitching as a collaboration with the entire front office.
"When you are talking about a pick as high as 7, it's an organizational pick,” Kantrovitz said. “That is something we will have complete alignment on from Jed on down. There is quite a bit of discussion during meetings and when we break meetings, we get opinions from all of our research and development people, player development staff and obviously our scouts. These days, with all the data available, you can't help but have a lot of your people involved in the draft.”
When the Cubs began a full rebuild in late 2011 under the Theo Epstein-Hoyer regime, they put a big emphasis on selecting the best position player available with their high draft picks. They took outfielder Albert Almora Jr., third baseman Kris Bryant, catcher/outfielder Kyle Schwarber and outfielder Ian Happ with their first-round picks from 2012 to 2015, respectively. They then used free agency and the trade market to add pitching.
Since Epstein resigned and Hoyer took over as the Cubs’ top baseball executive in late 2020, there has been a mandate to develop more homegrown pitching. Hiring Hawkins away from the Guardians was a big step for the Cubs in that regard, as Cleveland has had a reputation for stockpiling quality young pitching.
“This was the quickest way to get two exciting arms into our system,” Kantrovitz said. “I don't think you ever feel too good about having enough pitching. Regardless of how much or how little you have, I think you probably always need more pitching. It’s pretty strong currency in the game, and it's obviously a strong way of collecting outs throughout a season for a major league team.”
On the second day of the MLB Draft on Monday, the Cubs continued with their focus on pitching. They took seven pitchers among their eight selections.
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
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