What did the Chicago Cubs get from their picks in rounds 11-20 in the 2023 MLB Draft?

12th Round Pick- Carter Trice 2B (NC State University)

Carter Trice is an interesting player. He began his career at Old Dominion where he mashed as a freshman. He hit .355/.426/.633 with 14 homers and another 20 extra-base hits while stealing 8 bases and playing almost the entire season at an average of three years younger than the average competitor. 

His sophomore year saw a bit of regression in terms of average but he hit for more homers and stole significantly more bases (18). That made him an attractive candidate to leave Conference USA for greener pastures. Much like Paul Skenes left Air Force to go to LSU, win a National Championship and become the number one overall pick, Trice left Old Dominion for NC State but unfortunately had the worst year of his college career.

He batted .248/.348/.479 while playing in fewer games than he had his previous two years and seeing his numbers fall across the board. If the Cubs can get the player that feasted on Conference USA competition they might have a solid player on their hands. If they get the one that was mediocre at NC State, they might have a solid organizational prospect. 

13th Round Pick- Sam Armstrong P (Old Dominion University)

First of all, let’s state the obvious: Armstrong is the literal best possible name for a pitcher. Way better than something like Homer Bailey or Aaron Bummer.

He pitched in 30 games at Old Dominion in his college career and in those he had a 4.36 ERA with 125 strikeouts across 140 innings. He had relatively solid control for a college pitcher as he averaged 3.5 BB/9 but there’s nothing here that really jumps off of the page aside from the fact that he turns 23 years old in September which is a pretty big yikes.

Earlier this season he pitched in the Cape Cod League and threw ten innings of one-hit baseball while striking out 13, which is enticing, but he was also a year and a half older than the average competitor.

14th Round Pick- Grayson Moore P (Vanderbilt University)

I’ve been very vocal about drafting college hitters because they are statistically most likely to work out. One of the least likely demographics to be successful even getting to the major league level is a college pitcher that has already been converted to a reliever. That being said, I have a soft spot for them and therefore I love this pick. 

Moore has been a reliever for Vanderbilt pretty much exclusively his entire time there. In the three seasons there he had a 4.58 ERA with 81 strikeouts across 59 innings. This season he had a 3.08 ERA with 36 strikeouts over 26 innings and last year on the Cape he carried a 0.47 ERA across 19.1 innings with 25 strikeouts.

The Cubs need relief pitching. Relievers are the most finicky position in, potentially, all of sports and you can never have enough of them. The Cubs have shown this season they don’t intend to buy relief pitching in the free-agent market so drafting guys that have the makeup for that role out of great colleges like Vanderbilt in the late rounds gets me excited. 

15th Round Pick- Ty Johnson P (Ball State University)

Here’s a guy that’s never put it all together (even against the subpar competition that the MAC has to offer) but he’s got the frame to tantalize at 6’6 205 pounds. In his career at Ball State, he’s carried a 5.39 ERA over 157 innings with 178 strikeouts. He walks too many guys (4.0 BB/9) but he’s got the right size.

When you start getting later into the draft, teams stop looking so much for a guy that can do a lot of things well and instead will hone in on one singular tool or tangible, etc. For Johnson, they liked that he could come at an under-slot price and that he is a big dude. If they can limit the walks he might be a player that could be a middle/long relief option moving forward. He will be turning 22 in September so the clock is ticking for him a little bit. 

16th Round Pick- Daniel Brown P (Campbell University)

I’ve got to say this one doesn’t make much sense to me. According to baseball reference Brown appeared in six games across his college career and never started a game. In those six appearances, he lasted one inning (combined) and allowed 10 earned runs on 13 walks, and had nine wild pitches.

He faced 18 batters in his college career and got three outs (all strikeouts) but that’s simply not good enough and creates a stat line that is too similar to the one that Keegan Thompson bounced out of Wrigley. 

I’m not sure if the Cubs think they can get him some glasses and play Wild Thing as he exits the bullpen, but this pick legitimately makes as much sense to me as drafting… well… me. And that wouldn’t be good for anyone. 

17th Round Pick- Ethan Flanagan P (UCLA)

Flanagan pitched significantly fewer innings in his junior season than he did in his sophomore season at UCLA when he was putting up numbers that looked like they might be good enough to land him on the second day of the draft.

In 2022 he went 3-0 over 25 games (seven starts) and also racked up two saves. He threw 60.1 innings, struck out 76, and walked 28 to earn a 3.28 ERA. 

In 2023 he appeared in just nine games (six starts) and went 2-1. Over 31.2 innings he struck out 31 and walked 16. He played fewer games, had a worse K/9, a worse BB/9, and a significantly higher ERA at 5.12.

Flanagan is more similar in nature to Jax Wiggins, the Cubs' second-round pick in that the Cubs hope with some help from the organization and recovery from whatever injuries were ailing him that they might end up with a solid pick in the 17th round. 

18th Round Pick- Brian Kalmer 3B (Gonzaga)

Kalmer is going to be a name to keep an eye on. He began his college career at Arizona State but in his freshman and sophomore seasons he only received a total of 30 plate appearances. He transferred to Gonzaga this season and absolutely went off. 

In 240 plate appearances, he hit .358/.454/.682 with 15 homers, another 18 extra-base hits, and a stolen base. 

I generally prefer to see players like Carter Trice that didn’t want to be a big fish in a small pond and transferred to a higher level of competition even if it means their numbers would suffer, but seeing Kalmer take this opportunity and run with it is exciting. 

Personally, I think calling him a third baseman is extremely optimistic as he seems like much more of a first base/designated hitter type, but the bat seems to be good enough to carry the position even if he’ll be 23 in August.

19th Round Pick- Nick Dean P (Maryland)

Dean doesn’t blow you away. He’s 6’3 180 pounds, so the stature isn’t astounding. He’s a right-handed college pitcher, so you don’t get to dream about his ability to have a curveball run away from lefty hitters or that he can project into a stronger pitcher like you can with prep guys. 

That being said, he’s a legitimate starting pitcher and has been since his freshman year in a major conference. He’s a college senior which means you can bet this deal will be signed well under what was already a minimal slot signing bonus to allow for allocation of dollars somewhere else. 

He had a great sophomore season when he worked a 2.87 ERA over 53.1 innings and is exceptionally well adept at keeping his walk numbers low while striking out about a batter per inning. Not every pick is going to be a future ace, sometimes you draft guys in the 19th round that can be middle/long relievers or back of the rotation arms and that’s ok. 

20th Round Pick- Drew Bowser 3B (Stanford)

Bowser could end up being the steal of the draft if he signs. Kiley McDaniel of ESPN had him rated as the 217th best prospect available and the Cubs took him nearly 400 picks later at number 596.

Tommy Troy got a lot of the attention in the Stanford infield but Bowser had a fine season as well playing third base on a team that made it to Omaha. He was down across the board compared to his impressive sophomore season where he batted .293/.350/.573 with 18 homers, but his .271/.342/.512 line last season is nothing to scoff at.

His biggest area for growth is definitely in the swing and miss. Over his last two seasons he has just 46 walks compared to 158 strikeouts, and to be totally honest the power in the bat isn’t enough to outweigh those issues and that’s how he found himself as a 20th-round pick.

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