Chicago Cubs: Latest mock draft has puzzling first round pick

With the MLB Draft just over a month away, a recent mock draft has the Chicago Cubs taking a catcher. But does that make the most sense?

The highest draft pick since the team selected Ian Happ with the ninth overall pick in 2015, the Chicago Cubs are in unfamiliar territory. After coming off a disappointing season in which they failed to make the playoffs, Theo Epstein is also now facing losing 60 percent of his rotation regardless if there’s a season.

MLB writer Jonathan Mayo released the first mock draft with just over a month to go until the Cubs select their next wave of prospects. Surprisingly, he has the north siders taking North Carolina State’s Patrick Bailey. The Wolfpack’s backstop is one of the most polished catchers in this draft class.

He put up monster numbers as a freshman – .321/.419/.604 line with 13 home runs and 40 RBI – to go along with a 1:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He followed that up with similar numbers in his sophomore campaign. Bailey was off to a torrid start before the shutdown this year, already smacking six bombs in 17 games.

But does a catcher make the most sense? Bailey would project to plug-in within the next couple of years. However, Willson Contreras currently occupies the backstop. He’s only 27 and is just starting to enter his prime. Sure, he was the subject of trade rumors this past offseason, but who wasn’t on the Cubs roster?

Contreras is under contract through the 2022 season and could get a handsome payday from the Cubs. But Miguel Amaya is one of baseball’s best prospects, and he’s projected to be ready at some point in 2021.

The Cubs also selected the top high school catcher, Ethan Hearn, in the sixth round of last year’s draft. And they immediately followed that, signing Ronnier Quintero as an international free agent in July 2019. So to say that they have an abundance of talent at the catcher position would be putting it mildly.

As noted, the Cubs badly need pitching and should target the best college arm available. In Mayo’s mock draft, Tennessee’s Garrett Crochet is an intriguing option if he’s past his injury concerns that derailed the start to his year.

Not far after him, both Oklahoma’s Cade Cavalli and Georgia’s Cole Wilcox go off the board. We’ve already discussed both players on here before (Cavalli here, Wilcox here). Bailey’s talent cannot be ignored, but the Cubs don’t need immediate help at catcher.

Take the best college pitcher that’s on the board. Brailyn Marquez is arguably the closest to a “sure thing,” but he’s not projected to be ready until 2021. And with the COVID-19 pandemic delaying the MLB and potentially canceling all minor league games, there’s a good chance his arrival gets pushed to 2022.

Yes, Theo Epstein is likely to sign a free-agent starting pitcher or two. But the Cubs have gotten burned on a couple of occasions signing free-agent pitchers to lucrative contracts. It’s time to develop pitchers just as well as they did position players before their competitive window opened.