Chicago Cubs go with pitching in draft
NEW YORK - As expected, the Chicago Cubs took a different tack from past years on Draft Day 2017.
With two picks in the first round, the Cubs selected a pair of pitchers. At No. 27 overall, they went with left-hander Brendon Little out of State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota. Three picks later, at No. 30, they went with a righty, Alex Lange out of LSU.
This is a major departure for the current Cubs baseball regime, which went with position players for their first-rounders from 2012-15: Albert Almora Jr., Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber and Ian Happ. The Cubs did not have a first-rounder last year.
There has been a lack of quality pitching depth in the organization for several years.
"Like I said the other day, we weren't going to force the issue," said Jason McLeod, the Cubs' scouting and player-development chief. "The way we had our board lined up, we felt really good about three or four players we felt were going to be in that area of the draft. Certainly we were really excited with Brendon and Alex when they were available for us."
According to MLB's draft tracker, Little "was touching 97 mph in fall ball and has kept that up during the regular season in Florida. He complements it with a true 12-to-6 power curve which flashes plus on occasion, and he'll also show some feel for his changeup, though it's behind the other two pitches."
Lange "has two plus pitches in a fastball that usually ranged from 92-96 mph and a power curveball that stood out as the best on the U.S. college national team last summer," according to the tracker.
Hendricks to test it:
Right-hander Kyle Hendricks will throw lightly Tuesday at Citi Field as he tests his right hand. Hendricks is on the 10-day disabled list, retroactive to June 5, with tendinitis near the back of the middle finger.
"I got re-evaluated (Sunday) by the ortho," Hendricks said Monday. "It felt good. He said everything looks good in there. We're going to try to go out and (do) light throwing tomorrow and see how it goes from there."
The Cubs hope Hendricks can be able to come off the DL this weekend and start one of the games at Pittsburgh.
Arrieta's issue:
Right-hander Jake Arrieta has been battling a small cut on his pitching thumb. That contributed to Arrieta having to leave Sunday's start in the fifth inning.
"I talked to him about it," manager Joe Maddon said. "It just comes from throwing. It's not like he'd been cut by a knife or anything. It's just one of those skin issues where your finger splits a little bit.
"We backed off on this throwing in between starts last time. We'll probably do the same thing this time. It's annoying. It causes you to try to do something differently. Whenever you try to do that when you're releasing a baseball, that's normally not a good thing."