CaliforniaRaisin

There’s some talent there. My intial favorites: Luke Smith looks like he has some workable qualities. He’s clearly got some fire with his CWS “F U” to Vanderbilt. There’s not a lot of projectability, but he has three pitches and 14 starts for a strong program. It also wouldn’t be a Cubs draft if they didn’t bring in a Louisville pitcher. Austin Smith is a DIII guy who barley pitched this year due to blisters. He’s younger (21) than most guys on the list.he has a decent low 90s FB, but needs a breaking ball. He’d be a good pitch lab guy Bradlee Beesley is a CCBL performer (.948 OPS) who looks like he can play CF and has speed. May not be a power guy, but could be a valuable 5th OF. There’s definitely some other intriguing relievers that need considerable work and I’m guessing they’ll look at bringing in a C or two. Kantrovitz was on Marquee’s podcast and talked about with hitters they have a philosophy of targeting guys that can control the strike zone. It’s a pretty common philosophy, but it’ll be interesting to see if they bring in any more depth hitters with that trait. Chase Antle was getting some 5th round interest. Even if these guys are relievers-only in the pros, I'd love to get a few of the hard throwers. Beesley's profile seems interesting and I have to admit McLain O’Connor seems like the gamer types who outplay their abilities and could end up being a major league utility guy. The guys on that BA list who can hit upper 90s are: 3. John McMillon, RHP, Texas Tech (No. 357) 4. Blake Brown, RHP, UNC Asheville (No. 375) 13. Chase Antle, RHP, Coastal Carolina Also Jonathan Hughes was a well-regarded prospect coming out of HS (2nd rounder in 2015) who was injured a lot but still has good stuff. Seems like the type of pitcher the Dodgers have success with. Not sure if any juniors will sign for only $20k but there are a few I like who might because either they're old for their class or they are low on the defensive spectrum and know they'll get even less than other seniors next year.

We can do the same thing with Kiley McDaniel's ESPN Cubs Top Prospect List. Kiley only ranked Ed Howard (45 FV), Burl Carraway (40+) and Jordan Nwogu (40) in his top 150 draft prospects and he hasn't rated the top prospects in the 7/2 2020 IFA market yet. 1. Nico Hoerner, 50 FV 2. Miguel Amaya, 50 FV 3. Brennen Davis, 50 FV 4. Brailyn Márquez, 45+ FV 5. Ed Howard, 45 FV 6. Cole Roederer, 45 FV 7. Adbert Alzolay, 45 FV 8. Cory Abbott, 45 FV 9. Burl Carraway, 40+ FV 10. Ronnier Quintero, 40+ FV 11. Kevin Made, 40+ FV 12. Justin Steele, 40+ FV Kiley only ranked his top 10 Cubs prospects last offseason so I don't know if he thinks Steele is the last 40+ prospect or if any others would also rank ahead of 40 FV Nwogu (Kohl Franklin, Ryan Jensen, Richard Gallardo, Michael McAvene, Riley Thompson, DJ Herz, Chase Strumpf, Zack Short, Pedro Martinez, Christopher Morel, Aramis Ademan and Ethan Hearn were all in Kiley's "Others of Note" section).

Since FG placed FV ratings on their draft board and top IFA prospects, we can get an idea where Eric Longehangen would rate the Cubs new draft picks and Christian Hernández. 1. Ed Howard: 45+ FV 2020 July 2: Christian Hernández: 45 2. Burl Carraway: 40+ 3. Jordan Nwogu: 35+ 4. Luke Little: 35+ 5. Koen Moreno: 35+ The Cubs only have one 45+ FV (Adbert Alzolay at 5) so Howard would come in at 5th or 6th in an updated ranking. The Cubs have one 45 FV prospect (Cole Roederer at 6, though we'd knock Roederer to 7 with the inclusion of Howard) so Hernández would be 7th or 8th. The Cubs have five 40+ FV (Chase Strumpf at 7, Ryan Jensen 8, Kohl Franklin 9, Cory Abbot 10 and Christopher Morel at 11; we'd have to knock each of them down two spots for the additions of Howard and Hernández), so Carraway would rank somewhere between 9-14. The Cubs have twelve 35+ prospects from 30-41 so Nwogu, Little and Moreno would slot in somewhere in that group. For ease, I slotted each of the new prospects at the top of their FV groups: 1. Nico Hoerner - 50 FV 2. Brennen Davis - 50 3. Miguel Amaya - 50 4. Brailyn Márquez - 50 5. Ed Howard - 45+ 6. Adbert Alzolay - 45+ 7. Christian Hernández - 45 8. Cole Roederer - 45 9. Burl Carraway - 40+ 10. Chase Strumpf - 40+ 11. Ryan Jensen - 40+ 12. Kohl Franklin - 40+ 13. Cory Abbott - 40+ 14. Christopher Morel - 40+

Teams can sign an unlimited # of UDFAs but bonuses are capped at $20K. Hard to say how many they'll sign, no clue how long the signing period is, college seniors and older HSers like Alejandra Rosario (Miami recruit so maybe not) are the most likely to sign I guess And you can't sign anyone until Sunday at 9 am ET.

Fangraphs now has a blurb and ranking on Koen Moreno: Ranked 233 (35+ FV)

BA's top 25 undrafted college seniors: 1. Cam Shepherd, SS, Georgia (No. 298) 2. Luke Smith, RHP, Louisville (No. 345) 3. John McMillon, RHP, Texas Tech (No. 357) 4. Blake Brown, RHP, UNC Asheville (No. 375) 5. Austin Smith, RHP, Southwestern (Texas) (No. 406) 6. Bradlee Beesley, OF, Cal Poly (No. 429) 7. McLain O’Connor, SS, UC Santa Barbara (No. 432) 8. Trevin Esquerra, 1B/OF, Loyola Marymount (No. 433) 9. Nolan McCarthy, RHP, Occidental (Calif.) (No. 437) 10. Scott McKeon, SS/2B, Coastal Carolina (No. 438) 11. Harrison Ray, 2B, Vanderbilt (No. 441) 12. Hunter Stanley, RHP, Southern Mississippi (No. 498) 13. Chase Antle, RHP, Coastal Carolina 14. Jacob Hurtubise, OF, Army 15. Austin Langworthy, OF, Florida 16. Brian Van Belle, RHP, Miami 17. Matt Mervis, 1B/RHP, Duke 18. Matt Scheffler, C, Auburn 19. Jonathan Hughes, RHP, Georgia Tech 20. A.J. Block, LHP, Washington State 21. Max Troiani, OF, Bentley (Mass.) 22. Justin Lavey, SS, Louisville 23. Lael Lockhart, LHP/OF, Houston 24. TJ Collett, 1B, Kentucky 25. Nick Trogrlic-Iverson, RHP, Gonzaga

Here is BA's Way Too Early Top 10: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2021-mlb-mock-draft-way-too-early-top-10-picks/ 1. Kumar Rocker, RHP, Vanderbilt 2. Jack Leiter, RHP, Vanderbilt (draft-eligible sophomore) 3. Brady House, SS, Winder-Barrow HS (GA) 4. Adrian del Castillo, C, Miami 5. Matt McLain, SS, UCLA 6. Jud Fabian, OF, Florida 7. Jaden Hill, RHP, LSU 8. Colton Cowser, OF, Sam Houston State 9. Luke Leto, SS/RHP, Portage Central HS (MI) 10. Braylon Bishop, OF, Arkansas HS (AR) ESPN (Kiley McDaniel) has a ranking of 30. Here are all of Kiley's 45 FV prospects: 1. Kumar Rocker, RHP, Vanderbilt, 50 FV 2. Brady House, 3B, Winder-Barrow HS (GA), Tennessee commit, 45+ FV 3. Jack Leiter, RHP, Vanderbilt, 45+ FV 4. Jud Fabian, CF, Florida, 45 FV 5. Matt McLain, 2B, UCLA, 45 FV 6. Jordan Lawlar, SS, Jesuit HS (TX), Vanderbilt commit, 45 FV 7. Jaden Hill, RHP, LSU, 45 FV 8. Ethan Wilson, LF, South Alabama, 45 FV 9. Luke Leto, SS, Portage Central HS (MI), LSU commit, 45 FV 10. Alex Binelas, 3B, Louisville, 45 FV 11. Davis Sharpe, RHP, Clemson, 45 FV Fangraphs has ranked 111 prospects on their 2021 board plus have a bunch more prospects of interest: https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/the-board/2021-mlb-draft/summary?type=0&team=&sort=-1,1&pageitems=10000000000000&pg=0 Their top 17 all have 40+ FV: 1. Jack Leiter, RHP, Vanderbilt - 50 FV 2. Kumar Rocker, RHP, Vanderbilt - 50 3. Luke Leto, SS, Portage Central HS (MI) - 45 4. Braylon Bishop, CF, Texarkana HS (AR) - 45 5. Brady House, 3B/RHP, Winder-Barrow HS (GA) - 45 6. Robby Martin, RF, Florida State - 40+ 7. Jaden Hill, RHP, LSU - 40+ 8. Alex Binelas, 3B, Louisville - 40+ 9. Matt McLain, 2B, UCLA - 40+ 10. Jud Fabian, CF, Florida - 40+ 11, Jordan Lawlar, SS, Jesuit Prep HS (TX) - 40+ 12. Izaac Pacheco, 3B, Friendswood HS (TX) - 40+ 13. Christian Little, RHP, Christian Brothers HS (MO) - 40+ 14. Davis Sharpe, RHP, Clemson - 40+ 15. Jonathan Cannon, RHP, Georgia - 40+ 16. Gunnar Hoglund, RHP, Ole Miss - 40+ 17. Adrian del Castillo, C, Miami - 40+

MLB Pipeline had Jensen ranked 8th going into the season.

^^ Bet the reptilians in charge of sports are pretty proud of this Oraj Anu and Kavadas from that list hit some HRs in the CCBL and/or were multi year starters...Kafka has a cool last name Russell actually lost a lot of weight before his senior year to get in shape and alleviate concerns that he would move off shortstop as a pro. Lux is an interesting comparison. Similar size, both were defense-first prospects with promising swings coming out of HS.

MLB Instructs Teams To Find Taxi Squad Sites Ahead Of Potential Season

https://bastian.mlblogs.com/i-think-its-a-great-fit-i-m-super-excited-q-a-with-burl-carraway-6f924b2307a

BA: 12 Picks We Loved From Day 2 Of The 2020 MLB Draft

5th rounder: Koen Moreno, RHP, Panther Creek HS (Cary, NC) Athletic: NR BA: 129 ESPN: NR FG: 233 (35+) MLB: NR BA:

Luke Little, LHP, San Jacinto JC (Pasadena, TX) Athletic: NR (only ranked 100 prospects) BA: 121 ESPN: NR (only ranked 150 prospects) FG: 149 (35+ FV) MLB: 166 BA: FG: MLB:

The Cubs just took Mr 105 mph.

3rd rounder - Jordan Nwogu: Athletic: 68 BA: 197 ESPN: 141 (40 FV) FG: 191 (35+ FV) MLB: 108 Athletic: See Bertz' post above BA: FG: MLB:

I love the Jordan Nwogu pick. Remember when the poor kid dropped the fly ball against UCLA in the Supers last year but this is great: The Red Sox just drafted Brian Dopirak.

Burl Carraway, LHP, Dallas Baptist (straight reliever) Athletic (Keith Law): #90 BA: #72 ESPN (Kiley McDaniel): #53 FG (Eric Longenhagen): #44 MLB.com: #49 Athletic: BA: ESPN: FG: MLB:

Really throught Ben Hernandez would make it to the Cubs in round 2. And there goes Jared Jones.

Over the last few days, various publications linked a handful of guys to the Cubs as possible 2nd rounders or even later. The only ones still available are prep RHPs Jared Jones, Ben Hernandez and ECU 1B Alec Burleson (who would be a later round pick today).

Ben Badler at BA:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/day-1-draft-recap/ It’s a good read. Sounds like the Orioles were hoping for Bitsko after going with Kjerstad at 2. Will be interesting to see how the Red Sox play things today with all that savings.

Imo, if you’re going prep once more, it has to be the 2nd rounder. Minimize the risk of losing the prospect and maximize your pool space. I wouldn’t be shocked if there are no prep picks after the 3rd round since there won’t be any compensation for unsigned picks starting in the 4th.