New MLB mock draft has the Cubs making a huge mistake with their first-round pick

When the Chicago Cubs selected Cade Horton out of the University of Oklahoma four years ago, it raised some eyebrows. But after finishing runner-up in National League Rookie of the Year voting last season, those doubters were silenced - only to see Horton go down with an elbow injury and undergo his second UCL reconstruction surgery that will cost him all of 2026 and much of the 2027 season.

The team's other highly-touted pitching prospect, Jaxon Wiggins, has yet to show the ability to stay healthy or handle a pro-level workload, and is currently sidelined with right elbow inflammation. The Cubs tread carefully with him in 2025 and given he had Tommy John surgery in 2023, continued elbow issues are a huge red flag.

There's a bright spot in the lower levels of the system in Kaleb Wing, who has turned heads of late, but if you run down MLB Pipeline's organizational top 30, there's a clear weakness: impact pitching, especially in the upper levels of the minors.

So excuse me when I read the latest FanSided MLB mock draft and lost it a bit when I saw the Cubs taking Virginia outfielder AJ Gracia with their first-round pick, the #23 overall selection. Here's what the piece had to say about the 21-year-old outfielder.

While some pundits have Gracia going higher than No. 23, he doesn't have any one elite tool that would suggest his ceiling is all that high. Still, he makes more sense in this range — late in the first round — as a proven ACC bat. At Duke, Gracia earned freshman All-American honors and had one of the best eyes at the plate of any hitter in college baseball. He transferred to Virginia and showcased some of the elite power that ought to make him a first-round pick.

Projected Brewers pick makes this Cubs' selection look even worse

I get taking polished college hitters. Their road to the bigs is typically shorter, etc. But the Cubs need arms - and this mock draft has the rival Milwaukee Brewers snagging a big (literally) one, just two picks later in high school left-hander Brody Bumila.

The last thing I want is a 6-9, 255 pound southpaw with a 65 grade fastball going to Milwaukee, which has proven itself to be an elite organization in terms of developing pitchers in recent years. And if the Cubs are uncomfortable with using a first-round pick on a high school arm, there are other options in that range of picks, including Tennessee right-hander Tegan Kuhns (who has a two-pitch mix, much the same as Horton did coming out of college) and Ole Miss righty Cade Townsend.

Given the turnover looming in the rotation and the lack of immediate successors making their way through the farm system, the Cubs have to go hard on arms in this summer's draft. Not doing so could prove a major drag on the team's big-league hopes for years to come.

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