Draft Notes: Cubs on Happ? Final Mocks? Cameron Falling? Still Considering Aiken?

2015 mlb draftA final handful of draft-related items before the real thing this evening. If you missed our fun BN mini-mock draft earlier today, check it out here.

  • It’s final mock time, and Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo offer theirs here. They’ve both got the top three going Swanson-Bregman-Rodgers, and it does seem likely that those three shortstops will all be gone long, long before the Cubs pick at nine. Tyler Jay goes at six to the Twins in both mocks. Interestingly, both Callis and Mayo indicate the Cubs’ decision comes down to UC 2B/OF Ian Happ and high school outfielder Trenton Clark.
  • Notable discussion in there: rumors of Daz Cameron circulating a $5 million demand, and a team down in the draft (Astros in the second round, perhaps? they have a huge bonus pool) willing to meet it. If that’s true, you could see him slip today and not get taken by a team like the Cubs (slot for the 9th pick is just $3.47 million, and the Cubs seem unlikely to completely blow the rest of their draft to sign a guy for $5+ million in the first round).
  • BA’s final(?) mock just went up, and they, too, have Swanson-Bregman-Rodgers going at the top. They then have the Rangers taking Cameron. BA’s pick for the Cubs is Happ, following the best-experienced-bat on the board formula. Not a bad bet when it comes to the Cubs.
  • Callis and Mayo are updating this article with the latest buzz, including a bit on Canadian high school first baseman Josh Naylor rising rapidly, and maybe even going in the top ten to a team like the Cubs. I’ll admit I know almost nothing about Naylor given his late rise, but the bat must be very special. This makes me think about last year, just two days before the draft, when the Cubs first were connected to an expected mid-to-late first round pick named Kyle Schwarber.
  • Chris Crawford offers his top 125 prospects for the Draft, which makes for an interesting read. Contrary to popular opinion, Crawford is much higher on college positional guys like Ian Happ (6) and Kevin Newman (5), as well as high school outfielder Garrett Whitley (7) than most. He’s much lower on Vandy righty Carson Fulmer (26) than where he’s expected to go.
  • The Cubs might – MIGHT – still be considering Brady Aiken with their first round pick (Sun-Times). Aiken was at the top of the Cubs’ board last year before the Astros popped him at number one overall, before he didn’t sign with the Astros over medical concerns, before he had Tommy John surgery, and before vague rumors of mysterious other arm issues floated around. The upside is quite clear: ace. The downside is harder to know right now.
  • If you were hoping Andrew Benintendi would fall to the Cubs, it’s probably safe to put that hope away. Even Peter Gammons is reporting that he’s not getting past the Astros at five. Beyond that, I have trouble seeing him get past the Red Sox at seven.
  • College righty Jon Harris was probably the pitcher most frequently connected to the Cubs in earlier mocks, but haven’t seen that for a while. I kind of hope Dillon Tate or Tyler Jay falls, just to give the Cubs that option if they want to take it.
  • Patrick Mooney on the nature of the draft, and how the Cubs passed on Addison Russell a few years ago.
  • And a bit from Sahadev Sharma:
  • 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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