Cubs Probably Want to Redo the 2020 Draft

I really do hope that in 10 years we can come back to this and you can call me a dumbass and we’ll share a good laugh, but folks, this isn’t trending in the right direction.

You’ll probably have to give Jed Hoyer and the scouting department some truth serum or catch them at the bar after a bender with Theo, for them to admit that they want a redo on the 2020 draft. Maybe it’s too early to judge, but at the same time Jordan Walker is a consensus top five MLB prospect and at 20-years-old he’s going to be on the Opening Day roster for the St. Louis Cardinals after tearing it up in spring training.

We all know that MLB drafts can be a real crapshoot and hey, the Cubs weren’t the only ones to pass up on Walker in the first round of the 2020 draft. The Cardinals took the right-handed hitter with the 21st pick, so that’s 20 teams that didn’t draft him. However, only one of those 20 teams are the Cardinals main division rival and that’s the Cubs.

I’m trying to give the Cubs the benefit of the doubt because as you probably remember, although maybe you buried 2020 deep into your memory bank, that year had to have been nearly impossible to scout. There was no baseball seasons across the country for high school players and college players barely had any games before their season was wiped out because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Cubs had the 16th pick and they went with shortstop Ed Howard. His first pro season was bad and really kind of expected because Howard’s bat was questionable when he was drafted. Then, in 2022, Howard looked like he was turning the corner at the plate and then suffered an injury that required season-ending hip surgery.

But as bad as the first round looks for the Cubs, somehow the second round was even worse. Do you recall who the Cubs second round pick was? I still remember reading how left-handed pitcher Burl Carraway could have been one of the first players drafted in 2020 to come up and make his MLB debut in the very same season.

Well, Carraway, who was and still is only a reliever, hasn’t been able to make the necessary adjustments in the minors to take the next step in his development and in 2022, the lefty only pitched in 10 games at Double-A.

The 2020 draft only had five total rounds. After Howard and Carraway, the Cubs picked outfielder Jordan Nwogu, left-handed pitcher Luke Little and right-handed pitcher Koen Moreno. Out of those guys, Little is probably on the best path to the big leagues after he posted a 2.47 ERA in 65.2 innings at A-Ball in 2022. The 6-foot-8 lefty struck out 101 batters in 24 games.

I’ll repeat, drafting baseball players is difficult, but the Cubs have been questioned about their first round picks in recent years. They went with left-handed pitcher Jordan Wicks, passing up on shortstop Colson Montgomery, who is now a top-100 prospect, in 2021 and then in 2022, they drafted right-handed pitcher Cade Horton, passing up on a handful of college hitters.

I hope in 2-3 years I’m not writing another article about the Cubs wanting to redo a draft.