The 2006 First-Year Player Draft starts today and finishes tomorrow (June 6th & June 7th) and this will be the first for Tim Wilken, Director of Amateur and Professional Scouting. Wilken came from the Toronto Blue Jays organization and all 11 of his first round picks with the Blue Jays made it to the Major League, of the Cubs last 12 first round picks, 5 of them made it to the Majors.
The Cubs have the 13th pick in the first round and do not have another pick until the 5th round. They lost their 2nd, 3rd and 4th round picks as compensatory picks to the former teams of Scott Eyre, Bobby Howry and Jacque Jones when they signed with the Cubs as free agents this past off-season. Wilken selected the likes of Orlando Hudson and Chris Woodward and has said he likes selecting middle infielders because they are usually the better athletes.
Here are the last six first round draft picks (and some notables) for the Cubs and where they are this season:
2005 – Mark Pawelek, LHP – Currently with the Boise Hawks (A) their season begins on June 19th
2004 – Grant Johnson, RHP – Currently with the Daytona Cubs (A) and is 4-5 with a 5.17 ERA in 10 games
2004 notables – Eric Patterson, 8th round
– Sam Flud, 10th round
– Sean Gallagher, 12th round
2003 – Ryan Harvey, CF – Currently with the Daytona Cubs (A) and is hitting .192/.246/.311 with 5 home runs and 30 RBI’s
2003 notables – Jake Fox, 3rd round
– Sean Marshall, 6th round
– Casey McGehee, 10th round
2002 – Bobby Brownlie, RHP – Currently with the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx (AA) after starting the season with the Iowa Cubs (AAA). Brownlie is 2-3 with a 4.43 ERA in 8 games with West Tenn and was 0-3 with a 10.80 ERA in 8 games with Iowa.
2002 notables – Brian Dopirak, 2nd round
-Rich Hill, 4th round
– Chris Walker, 6th round
– Adam Greenberg, 9th round
– Micah Hoffpauir, 13th round
– Rocky Cherry, 14th round
– Randy Wells, 38th round
2001 – Mark Prior, RHP
2001 notables – Ryan Theriot, 3rd round
– Ricky Nolasco, 4th round
– Sergio Mitre, 7th round
– Geovany Soto, 11th round
– Khalil Greene, 14th round
2000 – Luis Montanez, SS – Montanez moved to the outfield and was promoted from the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx (AA) on May 17th. Currently with the Iowa Cubs (AAA) and in 15 games is hitting .212/.268/.385 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI’s
2000 notables – Todd Wellemeyer, 4th round
Dontrelle Willis, 8th round
Jon Leicester, 11th round
Jason Dubois, 14th round
Buck Coats, 18th round
Carmen Pignatiello, 20th round
Federico Baez, 42nd round
Here is more information on the draft…a history and how it works and who is eligible….a very good read.
And with the 13th pick in the 2006 Draft the Chicago Cubs select….