Two new mock drafts dropped this week, offer two new names to consider for the Chicago Cubs at pick 23 in the first round. MLB Pipeline stuck with what’s become a fairly entrenched guess that the Cubs are taking a college arm, while The Athletic, in a notable break from that trend, has them taking a college bat.
First, MLB Pipeline’s Jonathan Mayo in his June 11 mock sends the Cubs Ole Miss righty Cade Townsend:
“23. Cubs: Cade Townsend, RHP, Mississippi (No. 27)The safer bet here, and most of the talk, is around college pitching. In addition to Townsend, that list could include Kuhns or Southern Cal lefty Mason Edwards.”
This is now the fifth mock in the last month between MLB Pipeline and Baseball America to have the Cubs nabbing a college arm at 23, and, interestingly, it’s been a different name every time. Liam Peterson, then Mason Edwards, then Hunter Dietz, then Cameron Flukey, and now Cade Townsend. The aggregate profile is generally consistent: talented college pitcher whose draft stock has shifted enough that he’s potentially available outside the top 20.
Townsend is interesting because he’s a smaller frame for the type (6’1″, 185 lbs) but he’s been one of the more steady SEC arms this spring after splitting time as a swingman as a freshman in 2025. Through 13 starts he’s got a 3.94 ERA and 88 strikeouts/22 walks in 64.0 innings; earlier in the year he was running a 2.42 ERA before a rough Alabama start in mid-May and some intermittent shoulder discomfort dragged the season-long line back. He sits 95-96 with a five-pitch mix (cutter, slider, curveball, splitter, all with quality reports), which is the kind of arsenal that tends to project into a starting rotation if everything holds together (which also excuses the size a bit). He’s also currently pitching for an Ole Miss team that just made the College World Series, so Cubs scouts – and everyone else’s – will get at least one more big look at him this week.
Then there’s The Athletic’s mock from June 10, via Keith Law. He actually has the Cubs going somewhere very different:
“23. AJ Gracia, OF, VirginiaGracia is a model-friendly hitter with power and strong contact rates, along with what’s probably going to end up being above-average defense in a corner. I still hear them connected with Zion Rose, and I could see them being interested in Chase Brunson.”
Gracia is the Duke-to-Virginia transfer (he followed head coach Chris Pollard when Pollard left for Charlottesville) who entered the spring as a near-consensus top-20 draft prospect. He’s a 6-foot-3 left-handed-hitting corner outfielder who put up a 1.007 OPS at Duke last year, and followed it up with a 1.121 OPS at Virginia this year. The bat is real; the defensive value is more limited (most reports project him as a corner-only guy, possibly first base long-term). The pick would be a pretty significant departure for the Cubs, who haven’t taken a position player in the first round who did not project to play a slightly more premium position since Kyle Schwarber back in 2014. (A couple notes: Cam Smith was drafted as a third baseman and had been expected to stay there with the Cubs; Ian Happ wasn’t necessarily projected to play left field.)
For what it’s worth, MLB Pipeline’s same mock – the one that has the Cubs taking Townsend – has Gracia going six picks earlier, at 17 to the Astros. The Athletic, on the other hand, does not have Townsend going in the first round.
It’s also worth noting that the other names The Athletic floats as Cubs targets – Louisville outfielder Zion Rose and TCU outfielder Chase Brunson – are also college bats. So unlike Pipeline (which thinks the Cubs are mostly working the college-arm pile and has been consistent about it across mocks), Keith Law’s read is that the Cubs are looking in a different lane entirely.
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