Cubs Draft Notes: Three Pitchers Emerging at the Top?

carlos rodonMore draft goodness for you to ponder as we close out the week …

  • Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo mocked the first ten picks in the upcoming MLB draft, with some significant differences in the early picks. While Jim Callis has Brady Aiken, Carlos Rodon, and Tyler Kolek going 1-2-3 to the Astros, Marlins, and White Sox, respectively, Mayo goes Rodon, Kolek, and Jeff Hoffman with the top three. That would leave the Cubs with the opportunity to take the pitcher many think is the best one in the draft, high school lefty Brady Aiken (and they do, in Mayo’s mock). Callis has the Cubs taking Hoffman, the college righty who came into the season a “clear” top two pick, but who hasn’t dominated as much as expected, and is now on the shelf with some unspecific arm soreness.
  • Interestingly, each of Callis and Mayo go in lockstep over the next three picks (all players under consideration by the Cubs at number four): high school catcher/outfielder Alex Jackson, college righty Aaron Nola, and high school shortstop Nick Gordon.
  • In his recent chat, Keith Law implied that Aiken, Kolek, and Rodon are his top three, so we’re starting to see a little bit of consensus forming that there are three top arms in this draft, and then everyone else. That would bother me more – and make me say things like, “of course, since the Cubs pick fourth” – if we weren’t still a month away from the Draft. Still plenty of time for things to change.
  • Law added that, if Aiken, Kolek, and Rodon were off the board and he were picking at four, he would choose between Gordon and UNLV righty Erick Fedde, a name we haven’t heard much. He’s the 17th ranked draft prospect to MLB, and he’s got the kind of excellent college stats you’d expect from a riser.
  • If Hoffman or TCU lefty Brandon Finnegan were healthy, they would also get consideration, according to Law.
  • Patrick Mooney says the Cubs are considering at least four pitchers at the top of the draft – Aiken, Rodon, Kolek, and Hoffman – which would mean they’d get one of those four if they were at the top of the team’s board. Kerry Wood recently scouted Kolek, which is cool. Big, hard-throwing Texan scouting a big, hard-throwing Texan.
  • The bright side to Aiken/Rodon/Kolek emerging as a clear top three (if that actually happens) is that the Cubs will at least get their pick of the best position player. Given the risk attached to pitching, that’s no small consolation.
  • 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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