Josh Vitters came to the Cubs with the third overall pick in the 2007 draft as the reward for their dismal 2006 campaign, a highly touted high school third base prospect with an enviable right-handed swing, tremendous raw power, and almost no glove whatsoever. After a year of demolishing both the Northwest and Midwest Leagues (slashing .328/.365/.498 in 61 games at Boise …
2013 Cubs Prospects in Review: Paul Blackburn
Paul Blackburn is a 6-2, 185 pound righty who was drafted at the tail-end of the 1st round in 2012. He was Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer's third pick since they took over for Jim Hendry. He was rated 57th entering the draft and was picked 56th overall. He signed for $911,700 and began his career shortly after in the …
2013 Cubs Prospects in Review: Jae-Hoon Ha
Jae-Hoon Ha was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2008 out of Jin Ju City, South Korea. He signed for a bonus of $225,000. He began his US professional career at Boise in 2009 at the age of 18. He was signed as a catcher and, reportedly, was moved to the outfield because he couldn't handle the throws behind …
2013 Cubs Prospects In Review: Dan Vogelbach
Dan Vogelbach came to the Cubs in the second round of the 2011 Rule 4 draft. Listed currently at 6'0, 250 lbs, Vogelbach was listed at 288 just before the draft, and has worked hard to drop weight and become more athletic since turning pro. Pre-draft, Perfect Game had this to say about Vogelbach as a draft prospect: Vogelbach is enormously …
2013 Cubs Prospects in Review: Zeke DeVoss
Zeke DeVoss turned 23 in July and he played the entire season at High A Daytona. He's right handed, switch hits and moved to CF this season. 2nd base had been his position until 2013. As you can tell by the image at the right, he's a little guy. He's 5-10 and weighs 175 pounds. He was drafted out of …
2013 Cubs Prospects in Review: Justin Grimm
Continuing with the trend of pieces acquired via the Texas Rangers, today I'll look at Justin Grimm. Taken in the 5th round of the 2010 draft after a successful college career at the Univeristy of Georgia, Justin debuted at Class A and pitched the majority of the season at A+ ball (in 2011). It didn't take him long to break …
2013 Cubs Prospects In Review: Zack Godley
RHP Zack Godley came to the Cubs as their tenth round pick in this year's Rule 4 draft. A senior out of Tennessee, Godley entered the draft coming off a 2013 season that saw him strike out 98 batters in in 108.1 innings and toss 6 complete games, posting a 3.49 ERA on the year. His signing was pretty drama-free, announced …
2013 Cubs Prospects in Review: Duane Underwood
Duane Underwood stands 6-2 and weighs 205 pounds and unless you're blind, you can see he's a right-handed pitcher. He was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2012 Draft (67th overall). He was rated by Baseball America as the 104th ranked draft prospect and was the Cubs fourth pick behind Albert Almora, Pierce Johnson and Paul Blackburn. He signed …
2013 Cubs Prospects in Review: Dillon Maples
Dillon Maples was a highly thought of right-handed high school pitcher who was rated 46th among Baseball America's top 200 draft prospects in 2011. He had a strong committment to North Carolina and dropped to the 14th round where the Cubs picked him up. In order to get him to sign, the Cubs gave him $2.5 million signing bonus, which …
2013 Cubs Prospects In Review: CJ Edwards (UPDATE)
When the Cubs traded Matt Garza, most of the inches on the deal surrounded Mike Olt, who had been linked to the Cubs for quite some time. Olt was an intriguing prospect on the way down…but he's not the focus of this article. C.J. Edwards was the real gem of the deal. In 3 years, when people think of Olt …