Chicago Cubs Draft Notes: Top High School Arms, Rodon Ending, Jackson Climbing

2014 mlb draft featureThe latest on the MLB Draft …

  • Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo do another of their dueling takes (do these guys ever agree?! (winky face)), this time on which high school pitcher should be selected third in the draft behind lefty Brady Aiken and righty Tyler Kolek. It’s a question that is probably not going to be relevant to the Cubs, picking at four (with Carlos Rodon, Alex Jackson, and Nick Gordon in the mix, among others0, but it is theoretically possible. Callis goes with a righty we’ve started to hear more about, Grant Holmes. The South Carolina pitcher is pretty polished for a high school arm, but still does offer some upside. His body, however, just doesn’t look like the type that you project a whole lot more development onto.
  • And Holmes doesn’t have quite as much upside as Toukie Toussaint, whom Mayo tabs as the third best prep arm. Unlike Holmes, however, Toussaint will require a lot of refinement before he reaches his ceiling. He’s a great athlete, though, which generally proves to be a big plus in a pitcher’s development.
  • Mayo digs into some of the college arms behind the guys like Jeff Hoffman and Erick Fedde, who’ve gone down with Tommy John surgery.
  • Speaking of college arms, Carlos Rodon’s season is over, as NC State was eliminated from the ACC Tournament, and is unlikely to receive a bid into the NCAA Tournament. If not, it’s probably best for Rodon, who was routinely working well over 100 pitches in each start. It remains the cast that the top college arm will go in one of the first three picks, but if he should slide for some reason (well, other than health), you’ve got to figure the Cubs would be ecstatic to land him at four.
  • Speaking of the potential for Rondon to slide, Jon Heyman hears that high school catcher/outfielder (let’s just say “best high school bat, and probably best bat overall”) Alex Jackson is creeping up into the top three, together with Rodon and Aiken. Recall, this is how BA had its most recent mock draft going, with the Cubs then passing on Tyler Kolek in favor of Evansville lefty Kyle Freeland. I know there are body concerns with Kolek, and concerns that he throws too hard (103 mph at times), but I still think the Cubs go with one of the top three arms (Rodon/Aiken/Kolek) if one is there for them at four. So if Jackson goes in the top three, the die may be cast.
  • Dan Kirby figures you want to look ahead to the 2015 draft, what with the Cubs having the worst record in baseball right now.
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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