Chicago Cubs front office honored with latest award

Major League Baseball has named their top Scouts of the Year and have awarded Chicago Cubs Western Region Scout, Marti Wolever, one of those honors. He’s had many roles in his 48-year career at baseball’s highest level rising as high as Assistant GM in 2013-2014, but MLB.com pointed out that his first pick is a name that Cubs fans should pretty easily recognize.

Wolever's first pick as a director was 2002 first-rounder Cole Hamels, a four-time All-Star who was both National League Championship Series and World Series MVP in 2008. Hamels came with considerable risk because he had broken the humerus bone in his pitching arm earlier in his high school career, but Wolever trusted his scouts and his own evaluation.

As a West Coast scout, you have to look at some of the picks the Cubs have made in recent years and wonder how much involvement he’s had in drafting some of the players in the middle of our upcoming 2024 Top Prospects list.

Sure, he may not have been involved in some of the top names like Pete Crow-Armstrong or Cade Horton, but guys that had surprisingly impressive 2023 seasons like Haydn McGeary, Jonathon Long, and Brian Kalmer may all be Cubs thanks in no small part to the hard work that Wolever has done.

McGeary is a first baseman who split his time between High-A and AA last season and put up a slash line of .275/.397/.462 with 19 homers as a 15th-round pick out of Colorado Mesa University in the 2022 draft. 

Jonathon Long has a similar profile as he will likely make the switch from third base to first base, but the bat carries. Last season in just 26 games split between Rookie Ball and Low-A he hit .274/.402/.571 with 7 homers as a 9th round pick as a 9th round pick out of Long Beach State in the 2023 draft.

Finally, Brian Kalmer is the last of the potential answers at first base moving forward and he may be the best of the three. He hit .357/.426/.667 with 10 home runs in just 35 games last season between Rookie Ball and Low-A as an 18th-round pick out of Gonzaga in the 2023 Draft. 

Good scouts can help you make good decisions early in the draft, but the truly special ones, the award-worthy ones, help you find legitimate starters in the later rounds and Marti Wolever seems to have done that with this Cubs farm system.

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