Cubs Take Ryan Harvey With First Pick
The MLB draft got underway today. Drafting with the sixth overall pick in the draft, the Cubs selected high school outfielder Ryan Harvey in the first round, reports MLB.com. Harvey missed part of his senior year with a knee injury. Couple that with the uncertain nature of high school competition and it’s hard to place much weight in his stats (.463, 4, 14). However, “Baseball America ranked Harvey second among high school players in terms of best five-tool talent and second in their best power hitter category.”
The Cubs are stacked with pitching prospects. As a result, though you can never have enough pitching prospects because of the injury chances, I would like it if the Cubs were to make it a priority to acquire some hitting. It would be nice, though, if they chose players who won’t take so long to get ready for the big leagues (i.e., college players). The last high school hitter the Cubs took with their first pick – Luis Montanez – is nowhere near the big leagues right now. Of course, that’s just one example.
You can keep track of the Cubs picks here.
UPDATE (2:15pm): The Tampa Tribune profiles Harvey. And The Northside Lounge has further comments.
UPDATE II (5:45pm): I likely won’t have much else to say regarding the draft, except for perhaps a post regarding general trends of the Cubs’ picks. For a rundown of all the Cubs picks, check out The Cub Reporter. And feel free to discuss them in the comments section.
UPDATE III (11:35pm): The Chicago Tribune profiles Harvey.