The draft has resumed today with rounds 2-15. I will be updating this throughout out the day as the Cubs continue to select players they believe will help them build a strong minor league system with a lot of depth.
In the rounds two and three the Cubs continued just where they left off by drafting two more pitchers. In round two, the Cubs fourth overall pick, they drafted RHP Duane Underwood from Pope High School in Georgia. Underwood, 17, has a very strong arm and can touch his fastball up to 96 MPH. He struggles with consistency on his curve ball and change up but he has the potential of turning both into a quality big league pitches. Like most high school pitchers, Underwood needs to improve his command to become more effective. His poise, knowledge of the game and athleticsm say he’ll continue to evolve as a pitcher.
RHP Ryan McNeil, 18, was the Cubs third pick from Nipomo HS in California. Most scouts listed McNeil as the 10 overall pitcher coming out of high school. He has an aggressive arm with upside, and he’s touched 94 mph with his fastball. His secondary pitch is a slider which will need to be developed more in McNeil hopes to be a major league pitchers.
The Cubs continued their trend of drafting pitchers again in the fourth round by drafting RHP Josh Conway from Coastal Carolina. Conway, 20, could have been drafting much higher in the draft but an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery dropped him down the draft boards. In 2012, Conway gave up hitting to completely focus on pitching. Coastal Carolina’s Friday starter, he’s a bit of an undersized right-hander, but has pretty good three-pitch mix. A good athlete on the mound, he throws a fastball, slider and changeup, all of which have the chance to be effective pitchers at the next level. Since he does not have overpowering stuff, Conway will have to command his pitches to keep hitters off-balance.
LHP Anthony Prieto was the Cubs fifth round pick and fifth pitcher selected so far in the draft. Prieto, 19, from Americas HS in Texas was the first left handed pitcher the Cubs drafted. He missed half of the season last year due to a forearm strain but scouts clocked his fastball at 97MPH. He isn’t the biggest pitcher at 5″11 but because he is a hard throwing lefty, the Cubs were confident in his potential.
In the sixth round the Cubs drafted RHP Trey Lang from Gateway CC in Arizona. Lang, 20, used to be a two way player but focused on pitching this year. He projects to be a reliever.
Cubs finally snapped the streak of pitchers and went with third basemen, Stephen Bruno from Virginia University in the seventh round. Bruno, 21, had a great freshman year at Virginia but had an injury that set sidelined him for the majority of the 2011 season. Before the injury, Bruno projected to be a higher draft pick. Bruno is just 5″9 but hit .370 at his time at Virginia.
Eighth round: LHP Michael Heesch, 21, from the University of Southern Carolina Beaufort
Ninth round: Catcher Chadd Krist, 21, from California
10th round: RHP Chad Martin, 21, from Indiana
11th round: CF Rashad Crawford, 18, Mundy Mills High School, Georgia
12th round: RHP Justin Amlung, 21, Louisville, Kentucky
13th round: OF Bijan Rademacher, 19, Orange Coastal Col, California
14th round: RHP Corbin Hoffner, 18, St Petersburg Col, Florida
15th round: C Carlos Escobar, 21, Nevada
The draft concludes tomorrow with rounds 16-40.
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