Cubs weren’t expecting Jordan Wicks to still be on the Pick 21 board

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Every time the draft comes up and the Cubs add some top prospects to the organization, I feel like I can’t get enough of the new guys. There’s the initial take when the choice comes, there’s Bryan diving deep, and there’s also the Cubs revealing THEIR take on the choice.

To that end, Vice President of Scouting Dan Kantrovitz, who is leading his second draft for the Cubs, spoke of taking on Jordan Wicks in the first round, with the 21st pick overall.

“Just the full package from someone who we think has the resilience to be a big league starter,” Kantrovitz said of Wicks, per The Athletic. “To get who we thought was the best college southpaw with the 21st pick, we didn’t expect that to happen. When he did, we weren’t going to let him go.

Wicks, who was in the top ten on the Cubs’ selection board, already has an above-average change in the big leagues and is already immersed in pitch-crafting.

“We were blown away by how attentive he was to his repertoire, his intention, his work ethic, his routine and his game plan when he was going out,” Kantrovitz said. “He could talk about when he wanted to use his two and four seams, when he wanted to manipulate the shape of his cursor, when he wanted to double and triple his change. Talking to an amateur pitcher who could express his intention the way he could was truly impressive. “

After a full college season, Wicks is unlikely to launch TOO MUCH more this year. Your best bet is that after signing up he will travel to Arizona to work and be assessed at the facilities there. The Cubs might want to get him into some gameplay action – a few short outings are pretty typical for early-turn college pitchers – either in the rookie ball in Arizona or maybe in Low-A Myrtle Beach, mostly for set up some things to work on in the offseason and at the educational ball.

The Cubs have until August 1 to sign Wicks, but hopefully they can do it faster than that so he can get down to business. The bonus slot for Pick 21 is $ 3,132,300, and I would expect Wicks to eventually come close to the location as a varsity junior that was supposed to be between 15 and 22 years old. You could tell me he’s signing for a slot a little above or a little below and I wouldn’t be surprised. Don’t expect a major move back and forth.

I’m mentioning that part today, I guess, because the selection of the Wicks wasn’t clearly about setting up anything else for today’s bonus rounds. While the Cubs may risk pulling the trigger by taking on a tough-to-sign prep player who falls today, they likely won’t save much money on choosing the Wicks to help with this process (and so should go well under the slot in the later choices to make it work). Wicks was picked because he was still a big player on the board at 21, and the Cubs will sign him accordingly. Sometimes it’s that simple.



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