The Draft commences on Thursday! Which means it’s time for a 2014 MLB Mock Draft. In Chicago this will be the second most important day of the baseball season (trading deadline is first). The White Sox will pick third in the 2014 MLB mock Draft, the Cubs hold the fourth selection. Not just the mock, but the real draft as well! Of course!
John Arguello, founder of Cubs Den on Chicago Now is here to get you up to speed on the top prospects in the 2014 MLB Draft, and be sure to check out his site. You know how much I do love a good mock draft, in any sport, so I’m really looking forward to it.
Follow Arguello on Twitter @CubsDen to keep up with Cubs prospects news and much much more. Their 2014 MLB mock draft was comprised by a panel of 10 experts.
Here is the 10 person panel:
- Jason “Professor” Parks: Baseball Prospectus
- Mauricio Rubio, Cubs Den and Baseball Prospectus
- Jordan Gorosh, @TigersProspects and Baseball Prospectus
- Sahadev Sharma of ESPN Chicago, Vine Line and podcaster atBleacher Nation
- Dan Kirby, Through the Fence Baseball, a site that focuses on the MLB Draft year round
- Steve Fiorindo, Big League Futures, a site that focuses on amateur scouting and, of course, the draft.
- Ty Youngfelt, Pioneer Press, Ty (@TyYoungfelt) has followed the MLB Draft closely over the years
- Matt Cassidy of Future Sox, a Chicago Now site that focuses on White Sox prospects
- A retired scout, anonymous
- John Arguello, Editor-in-Chief, Cubs Den
- And in the “This one goes to 11” category: Mike Moody, writer at Cubs Den, who stepped into pinch hit for one pick and also give his opinion on the Cubs best option at #4.
Here are their top 5 picks below (but be sure to check out the whole thing)
2014 MLB Mock Draft
1. Astros (retired scout): Brady Aiken, LHP, H.S. (CA). “Simple. He is the best player in the draft and has the polish to move quickly.”
2. Marlins: (Jason Parks): Carlos Rodon, LHP, N.C State. “Easy pick. Best player available; top college arm in the draft; frontline ceiling with one of the highest floors in the class; plus fastball; double-plus slider; workload concerns and a few performance red flags this season, but highly competitive lefty with impact stuff. Don’t over-think it. ”
3. White Sox (Matt Cassidy): Tyler Kolek, RHP, HS (T). John: The latest buzz says the Sox have focused on Kolek and that he is their guy. Keith Law has called it the biggest lock in the draft.
4. Cubs (John Arguello): Aaron Nola, RHP, LSU: Surprise! I have heard conflicting stories and for me it came down to Nick Gordon or Aaron Nola. The industry buzz I have heard recently made me go with Nola. The Cubs may be leaning toward an arm, they prefer college players and higher floors, though the buzz is that scouts are beginning to think that maybe Nola has a higher ceiling than they originally believed. I’ve also heard that they aren’t especially enamored with anyone outside of the top 2 arms, so they may just get a safe player who can rise quickly. A lot of times we mistakenly assume best available = highest ceiling within a group of similarly ranked players, which would mean Gordon or Jackson or even Hoffman. But BPA to the Cubs means the player most capable of — and most likely — to make a long term impact, so they will strongly consider floor along with ceiling. They maybe even save a little bit on the bonus (though many doubt that with Nola) and go for the high ceiling talent with their 2nd pick: perhaps the very projectable Jack Flaherty or the hard-throwing Jake Bukauskus, who may have the best pure prep arm in the draft after Kolek. Word is that the Cubs have their eye on several 2nd round pitchers. Ask me again before Thursday and I might change my mind and flip back to Gordon or even Max Pentecost if they really want to save money.
5. Twins: (Sahadev Sharma): Nick Gordon, SS, HS (FL). If the Cubs don’t snag him, I don’t think Gordon gets past the Twins. The slick fielding shortstop is more athletic than his brother with more pop and less speed.
Go here for the rest of the 2014 MLB mock draf t’s first round
Listen below as Arguello articulates who the White Sox and Cubs might take with the 3rd and 4th picks in the Draft. As well as who will likely be taken first and second. Plenty of 2014 MLB mock draft talk:
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also a frequent guest on national talk radio. Banks, a former contributor to NBC Chicago and the Washington Times, has been featured in numerous outlets including NFL.com, Forbes and the History Channel. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)