Pitching a draft need not a necessity for Chicago Cubs
As hard as it may seem to believe, the current Chicago Cubs baseball regime will preside over its sixth amateur draft beginning Monday.
First-round picks Albert Almora Jr., Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber and Ian Happ are on the major-league roster.
As has been the case for several years, pitching remains an area of need in the organization.
"It's exciting for all of us to see all the guys that are up here now that we've been able to draft and develop since we've been here," said Jason McLeod, the Cubs' senior vice president of scouting and player development. "Our challenge, I feel like I say to you guys every single year, is on the pitching side of things.
"Now, looking at some of the guys who are performing this year down in the minor leagues, it makes us feel good.
"We're going to still try to identify guys in this year's draft that we feel be impact starting pitching for us."
The Cubs have the 27th and 30th overall picks in the first round this year. Last year they did not pick until the 104th selection overall.
Will the Cubs stick with the cliché of "best player available?"
"Most impact available," McLeod said. "We're not going to try to invent a pitcher there. I'd love to be talking to you guys Monday night and say, 'Hey, we really got a pitcher that we're really excited about, but I don't know if it's going to fall that way. We're going to take the two best players for the organization. If one of them is a pitcher or if both of them are pitchers, that will be great."
Remembering Stan Zielinski:
The Cubs have not forgotten their late scout, Stan Zielinski. Far from it. Zielinski, who resided in Winfield, died in early January.
Zielinski's son Zach will represent the Cubs at the draft along with former Cubs pitcher Sean Marshall.
Jason McLeod said Zach Zielinski also will do some work for the Cubs this summer.
"We were talking about Stan today," McLeod said. "We always talk about Stan. We had another one of his Stan-isms as we like to say, things that we hadn't even seen before. We were reading a follow report on a kid and it was along the lines of, 'We have to treat this kid like a student driver. He's new to this, and we just hope that it's not a bumpy road and that it's a smooth ride.' We all got a chuckle about it."
Among the players recommended by Zielinski was Kyle Schwarber.
Game times set:
The Cubs have announced the Sunday Aug. 6 game against the Washington Nationals at Wrigley Field, currently listed as "TBD," and the Sunday Sept. 3 game against the Atlanta Braves, originally listed as "TBD," are scheduled to begin at 1:20 p.m. Both will air on CSN Chicago.
The Cubs' next Sunday night game is July 23 against the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field.