This year‘s draft process has been quite the roller coaster and it’s not even the end of April. No date has officially been set for when the draft will take place. It’s really up to Major League Baseball when they hold it. The original date was set for June 10-12. But with the reduced rounds, it’s only going to take two days to do.
Over the next few Saturdays, I’m going to be going through four categories of players who will probably be available for the Cubs to take in either the first or second round. The Cubs are set to pick at 16 in the first, 51 in the second, and 89 in the third round.
If it was up to Theo Epstein, he would take a college bat every year. They are the most projectable prospect and, if you get a good one, they could make it to the show in a couple of years. We’ve seen that time and again with Bryant, Schwarber, Ian Happ, and Nico Hoerner.
My favorite bat this year is Heston Kjerstad from the University of Arkansas. The sweet swinging left-handed hitting outfielder should be available for the Cubs if the draft were held today. He has a lot of power and he can still fill out a little bit on his large 6’3” frame. Defensively, he might be a liability, but you can always work on those things.
If Kjerstad were not available, the next college bats might be either catcher Patrick Bailey from North Carolina State or catcher Austin Wells from Arizona. It would seem kind of hard to pick a catcher considering who the Cubs already have in the pipeline in Miguel Amaya, Ronnier Quintero, and Ethan Hearn.
If the Cubs reached a little bit, they could actually sign a guy on an under slot deal.
Gage Workman from Arizona State had a really strange last year and a half. He flashed a little bit at Arizona State in the spring of 19 at third base. He went to the Cape Cod League and was one of the best players there while playing shortstop. He returned back to ASU and went back to playing third base and started to flash a little bit with some power from his rather large 6’4” frame. He has quite the potential for power. Here is what MLB Pipeline said about Workman:
The 6-foot-4 switch-hitter is big, strong and athletic. He’s better from the left side of the plate, both in terms of his approach at the plate and tapping into his excellent raw power. Overall, he’s power over hit and needs to cut down on his strikeouts, work more counts and take more walks to become a more well-rounded offensive player. He’s a solid-to-average runner, maybe a tick better underway, and he moves better than you’d think. He plays third at ASU in deference to Alika Williams, but Workman played short on the Cape and he could get the chance to play up the middle. He has the hands and arm strength to do it, but with his frame, third base seems a more likely long-term home.
When the second round comes calling, the guy I just love for the Cubs is second baseman Justin Foscue from Mississippi State. He was a third baseman as a freshman and moved over to second in 2019 where he was first team All-American as a sophomore. He also would remind many of Nico Hoerner and Chase Strumpf. I don’t see anything wrong with taking that type of player. MLB Pipeline went as far as comparing his game to that of Jeff Kent.
My dark horse candidate for either the first or second round is Zach DeLoach from Texas A&M. He really came on strong last summer at the Cape and prefers hitting with a wood bat over an aluminum one. You don’t hear that too often. But DeLoach was on a tear this spring before baseball was shut down. He was hitting over .400 with an on-base percentage of .615.
It will be interesting to see how these names evolve before draft day, whenever that is.
Cubs Central 
[…] to part two of my draft preview series. Last week, I looked at some college bats. This week, the focus shifts to college pitchers who are the strength at the top of the draft this […]
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