Cubs’ draft signings get a big ‘wow’
For lack of a better term, Cubs scouting director Tim Wilken sounded like he was riding a high Tuesday.
Calling from Boise, Idaho, Wilken had just wrapped up what the Cubs feel was an epic draft-signing season the previous night.
“Wow,” Wilken said as he prepared to watch the Cubs’ Class A Boise farm club. “It is a real high. From the past months and the drive to get to the draft and then drafting and then the signing period, it was pretty darn sweet the way we finished up.”
The Cubs finished up by coming to terms with 34 of 50 selections from the June draft. Monday was the deadline to sign players, with many having the leverage of college ball.
Late Monday the Cubs came to terms with No. 1 pick Javier Baez, a high school shortstop, for $2.625 million. No. 2 pick Daniel Vogelbach, a high school slugging first baseman, came in at $1.6 million.
Shawon Dunston Jr., son of the former Cub, agreed for $1.275 million in the 11th round, and pitcher Dillon Maples signed for $2.5 million out of the 14th round.
The Cubs wound up signing their first seven picks, 10 of their first 11 and 20 of their first 22.
Their total draft commitment of about $12 million was a franchise record, according to the Cubs, who added it was more than double their financial commitment of last year and more than the previous two drafts combined.
Of course, these players will have to prove it on the field. The baseball draft can be a crapshoot, but Wilken seemed heartened by the commitment of Cubs owner Tom Ricketts, who walked the walk after talking the talk of investing big at the amateur levels, both in North America and abroad.
“Oh, man, it speaks volumes,” Wilken said. “Sometimes in the past, wherever I had been, and leading up to this draft, you always thought you had a chance with almost every guy you selected to get him to the big leagues.
“To be able to take quality, with pretty much every pick, that was hugely satisfying.
“The continued support from Tom financially, and a lot of people don’t know this, but (general manager) Jim Hendry did a lot of the negotiating here. He really stepped up to help.
“You can see that this is something that had not been done, certainly in the Cubs’ history, and quite a few clubs had not done this — with that many picks, the juggling act, not only in negotiating, but to portray and show the players we drafted what kind of classy organization that we have and will become in the future.”
The Cubs have been criticized in recent years for not valuing hitters with patience at the plate or high on-base percentages.
They feel they got that this year, with not only Baez and Vogelbach but also third-rounder Zeke DeVoss, who signed weeks ago and is off to a good start in Boise.
“We went after the hitters, and we went after what we termed in the higher picks to be a little bit more intelligent at the plate, guys that have a chance to have a pretty good OBP,” Wilken said.
“They’re selective; they want to work the pitcher hard. Sometimes that doesn’t always result in walks, but what it does is it results in high counts, which gets the pitcher out of game the quicker.
“With Vogelbach and Baez, they’re mature for their ages at the plate. They’ve got good hand-eye. There’s not a lot of strikeout in either one.”
The Cubs didn’t take a pitcher until St. Rita High School’s Tony Zych in the fourth round and Arizona high schooler Tayler Scott in the fifth.
Maples fell to 14th because many teams thought he was “unsignable” and would head to the University of North Carolina to play football and baseball.
“There were pitchers, but as the prognosticators say, there was velocity,” Wilken said. “There wasn’t pitching ability. Maples, I believe, has pretty good pitching ability. I just didn’t see those style of pitcher we were looking for.”
bmiles@dailyherald.com