Early 2026 MLB draft intel reveals the prospect the Cubs are already in love with

The 2026 MLB Draft may still be two months away, but it's officially mock draft season in baseball. This year's crop of young players is falling into place, with UCLA's Roch Cholowsky and Fort Worth Christian High School's Grady Emerson standing out as the clear top two picks in what's seen as a weaker class. Beyond the first few selections, it's anybody's guess where the rest of the first round could end up. As far as the Chicago Cubs go at No. 23, though, there's one name that The Athletic's Keith Law is tying to them right now as a likely candidate — Zion Rose.

Rose is a 6-foot-1 right-handed outfielder out of Louisville who fits a lot of the team's hallmarks. The Cubs have loved their college bats in the past several drafts, finding success with Matt Shaw and Cam Smith, though the jury's still out on Ethan Conrad after a lower-back injury delayed the start of his season. Like those three, all Rose has done in his career is mash, currently hitting .410/.496/.657, for a 1.153 OPS in 29 games this season and recording a career slash line of .352/.435/.583/1.018 in 622 plate appearances. A hamstring injury has kept him out for roughly half the season, though, making him a bet on upside due to a smaller sample size.

The fact that he's another polished hitter who could rise through the Cubs system quickly is reason enough to peg him as a potential pick for Jed Hoyer and company. However, Law has also personally heard that the team is a fan of Rose, who was seen as a top-30 talent heading into 2026. With how little divide there is between the names in the mid-to-late first round, it'd be a reasonable pick to further bolster their outfield talent.

Currently, Chicago has three outfielders in their top five prospects — Conrad, Kevin Alcantara, and Kane Kepley — with the very promising Josiah Hartshorn quickly rising. Alcantara's future remains particularly uncertain, though. The pending free agency of Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki opens the door for him to potentially make the major league roster next year, but with the Cubs in dire need of pitching now, he could become a trade piece to bolster a World Series contender. Whatever they decide, it doesn't hurt to have multiple potential long-term options out in the grass.

The Cubs' interest in outfielders isn't limited to Rose, though. Law also could see them taking the lefty Sawyer Strosnider, who brings great batted-ball data with his career .315/.419/.616 slash line across two seasons at Texas Christian. Currently, though, he envisions him falling to Milwaukee at #25. Rose is arguably a slightly better fit on the North Side, given that both Conrad and Kepley are also left-handed hitters

The Chicago Cubs' pick is far from set in stone

There's still a lot of time and plenty of room for changes to happen before the draft on July 11, of course. Such a wide-open class leaves room for other predictions, too, even if Law has heard of the Cubs' specific interest in Rose. MLB Pipeline, for instance, had them going the pitching route and taking a high-risk, high-upside option in Liam Peterson to replenish their ranks.

Adding another arm makes sense given the current state of the farm system. Outside of Jaxon Wiggins, who's currently hurt, the Cubs have no other pitchers in their top-10 prospects and only two — Kaleb Wing (#12) and Dominick Reid (#15) — in their top-15. Peterson would help address that, ranking as the #14 prospect in the draft thanks to his excellent selection of pitches, but he hasn't translated that to success in college. They would have to be very certain they could coax more out of him than the career 4.97 ERA he's posted in Florida.

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