Quick Breakdown of Cubs’ 5 Saturday Draft Picks
The first four rounds of the 2026 MLB Draft took place on Saturday, and the Cubs had five picks — one in each round and a compensation pick in the second round for losing Kyle Tucker after extending him a qualifying offer. Those picks were Nos. 23, 62, 75, 98, and 126, with three of them being spent on the pitching the front office has been transparent about targeting. The other two picks were college bats, which they have long coveted with early-round picks.
All five picks were actually college players, giving the organization the potential to have some quick movers who can replenish a system that lacks a lot of impact talent right now. That’s particularly true of the pitching, which sees Jaxon Wiggins as the only real standout at the moment. That probably comes across as more of a slight to the rest of the arms than it’s meant to be, but it’s also by design.
The Cubs have preferred to avoid the inherent risk of taking pitchers early, and they’ve not had great luck with developing and/or keeping those picks healthy. Rather than get into that any further, I’ll direct you back to the link above for more on what may have changed with their thinking.
Now let’s get to their Saturday picks.
Round 1 (23) – Cade Townsend, RHP, Mississippi
Townsend was one of the top sophomore-eligible prospects this season with a fastball that touches 98 mph and an array of breaking balls, highlighted by an upper-80s slider. He’s a little undersized at 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds, but that clearly hasn’t hurt his stuff and velocity. His fastball gets decent ride from his high three-quarter delivery, but scouts believe he’ll need to improve the life on it to avoid hard contact.
I have to imagine that’s something VP of pitching Tyler Zombro has identified as an unlock, as we’ll see it again with one of the other players on this list. Getting the fastball to play up even a little bit will make his breaking stuff that much better.
Round 2 (62) – Caden Sorrell, OF, Texas A&M
Sorrell could have been an early-round pick out of high school, but was unsignable due to his college commitment. He started immediately for the Aggies and has shown a propensity for pull-side power, but his long swing also results in plenty of whiffs. He’s still got room to add to his 6-foot-3, 210-pound frame and profiles as a corner outfielder if he remains with the Cubs.
He’ll have to cut down on the swings and misses as a pro, but the tools are worth the risk even if the strikeout rate remains a little high.
Round 2C (75) – Myles Bailey, 1B, Florida State
Bailey was drafted by the White Sox in the 20th round two years ago, but they weren’t going to pay him enough to keep him from joining the Seminoles. At 6-foot-4 and nearly 260 pounds, he’s already got the body of an MLB veteran. Like Sorrell, Bailey’s power is offset somewhat by a grooved swing that leads to more than his fair share of strikeouts.
Bailey hit 19 homers as a freshman against some of the best competition in the college ranks, and he was slugging over .900 through 26 games this season before an ankle injury cut his season short. Again, the tools are worth the risk.
Round 3 (98) – Carson Jasa, RHP, Nebraska
Jasa is a 6-foot-7, 215-pound righty who was so raw when he arrived in Lincoln as a freshman that coaches kept him away from live BP while he redshirted. That was not for his own benefit, but for the safety of his teammates. He then had more walks than innings pitched while posting an 8.68 ERA in his first season of live competition.
A huge jump forward saw him ascend to the role of Huskers ace, though his 96 mph fastball was flat and lacked great control. That lack of life is very similar to Townsend, just in a very different package. Jasa makes up for that with a big curveball that he used to dominate opponents this past season. Figuring out the fastball will be Zombro’s priority for Jasa, and doing that could lead to a huge unlock.
Round 4 (126) – Dylan Marionneaux, RHP, Northwestern State
This one looks like a reach at first blush, as there’s very little information available on Marionneaux. He was not ranked among MLB’s top 250 draft prospects and there’s not even much on social media. What jumps out is that he’s a bowling ball on a broomstick at 6-foot-3 and just 170 pounds, so the Cubs might need to put him on a deep dish pizza diet as soon as he signs.
He doesn’t have big velo, but his electric arm speed indicates that he could tick up significantly as he gains strength. Alabama liked him well enough to land him in the portal, and his 82 strikeouts to 18 walks this past season tell us he knows how to pitch. This is sort of the reverse of the first two pitchers the Cubs took, and it’s pretty clear they see something they can uncover once he signs.
Scouting VP Dan Kantrovitz said recently that the Cubs were looking to bolster their pitching without leaking value by reaching for guys who might cost them opportunities to draft safer bets. While drafting five experienced college players could be seen as conservative, there’s still a fair bit of downside risk with all of these players. What’s more important, however, is that the upside is there as well.
That is particularly true of the pitchers, which is what the Cubs are targeting more than usual this year. I like what I’ve seen to this point and I’m looking forward to seeing who they pick in subsequent rounds.
