Five weeks from tomorrow, the 2023 MLB Draft will take place in Seattle. It hardly seems like it should be that time of the year, but it will be here quickly. With school now out for me, I am in the process of getting ready for my ten round Cubs draft next week, Greg Zumach and I will be rolling those out on Wednesday. Those are going to be fun to read and compare. I have my selections ready, just not the writeups and I will finish those over the next couple of days.
As for other evaluators, the mock drafts are starting to come out with more frequency. MLB Pipeline dropped their latest mock by Jim Callis. It had the Cubs taking prep 3B Aidan Miller, a selection I would be OK with taking. Here is what Callis said of the youngster.
The Cubs feel like the floor for Teel and Lowder, who probably won’t last this long. Miller missed much of the spring with a broken hamate but was the top hitter on the high school showcase circuit last summer. Also keep an eye on Houck, Bradfield, Maryland shortstop Matt Shaw (who has some Ian Happ parallels) and Florida Atlantic first baseman Nolan Schanuel.
With the Cubs picking at thirteen this year, there are a lot of things that are going to come into play before the Cubs pick. The main one is that the five teams right in front of them are known for being cheap skates when it comes to signing bonuses. They go under slot quite often. As a result, we could see Rhett Lowder or Chase Dollander or Kyle Teel fall to the Cubs. It is not out of the realm of possibility.
One thing I did to prepare for the 10 round mock was to make a couple of charts. The one I listed below is just who the three major publications listed at each spot where the Cubs are going to be picking. What this chart does give you is a sense that the talent level in this year’s class is pretty deep.
What made it deep was the pandemic. Instead of putting their name in the 5 rounder of 2020, they signed up to go to college. Three years later, they are now draft eligible. And with that depth of picks at the college level, that has pushed the high school class down some more. For example, Tanner Hall at 113 would be a great pickup as he has been solid at Mississippi State. To get Paulshawn Pasqualato in the 8th round would be amazing! Even getting Liam Sullivan in the ninth would be great. In fact, the Cubs are going to be getting very good players through the 13th and 14th round, guys who already have pretty solid floors.
| Pipeline | Prospects Live | Baseball America | |
| 13 | Blake Mitchell, C | Blake Mitchell, C | Matt Shaw, SS |
| 68 | George Wolkow, OF | Will Sanders, P | Josh Rivera, SS |
| 81 | Teddy McGraw, P | Jace Bohrefen, OF | Cole Carigg, SS/OF |
| 113 | Spencer Nivens, OF | Tanner Hall, P | Cole Foster, SS |
| 149 | Cameron Flukey, P | Marcus Brown, SS | Ty Nichols, P |
| 179 | Bishop Letson, P | Kevin SIm, 3B | Ross Dunn, LHP |
| 209 | NA | Mac Heuer, P | Carter Graham, 1B |
| 239 | NA | Zander Meuth, P | Paulshawn Pasqualato, P |
| 269 | NA | Ryan Hawks, P | Liam Sullivan, LHP |
| 299 | NA | Steven Miulam, SS | Gavin Adams, P |
Out of all the names listed here today, there’s only one I considered picking for the Cubs to take on Wednesday and that is Will Sanders, a pitcher out of South Carolina. However, Sanders for me is back of the first round/beginning of the second round kind of guy for me. He probably will not last to 68. As I said before, Tanner Hall would be a nice pick and Liam Sullivan would be a steal in the 9th round.
To give you a sneak peak, I selected 4 position players, 3 Starting pitchers, and 3 relievers in my top 10. Breaking it down a little further, there will be 8 college selections and only 2 HS players.
We will see you on Wednesday with the two 10 round mocks!
