The Cubs don’t have much room for error when the draft clock starts ticking this weekend.
With high-end pitching thin throughout the organization, especially in the upper minors, Chicago is under real pressure to nail its first-round pick. The club also appears willing to use that pick on a pitcher, which would be its first time doing so since selecting Cade Horton seventh overall in 2022.
But if the Cubs are going to go that route, the focus has to be on arms that look as close to safe as possible. That means steering away from pitchers with a track record of elbow trouble, a path that has already come back to bite Jed Hoyer with both Horton and Jaxon Wiggins.
Horton, who finished second in NL Rookie of the Year voting last year, has the kind of upside that can anchor a rotation. Still, after undergoing a UCL revision and internal brace surgery this spring, his 2026 is gone and much of 2027 could be, too. Wiggins, meanwhile, had Tommy John surgery in 2023 at Arkansas and has yet to take on a real workload in either college or the minors.
That history is exactly why UCLA right-hander Logan Reddemann should be off the Cubs’ board.
Reddemann’s stock has slipped after he missed time late in the college season because of what UCLA called “arm fatigue.” When he was healthy, though, he looked like one of the best pitchers in the country, working a fastball that reached the upper 90s and pairing it with a plus change-up.
The stuff is obvious. The risk is, too.
Reddemann never made it back to the mound for UCLA after the April diagnosis, and although he has recently started throwing again, that’s not enough to make him a first-round fit for Chicago. For a Cubs system that already has too many pitching questions, taking on another one would be a gamble they don’t need to make.
There’s no such thing as a perfect injury forecast, and no prospect comes with guarantees. But given where the Cubs stand, using a premium pick on a pitcher with health concerns would be a costly way to make life harder on themselves.
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There is also a familiar thread here for Craig Counsell, who spent six seasons with Peralta in Milwaukee and knows exactly what the starter can bring when he is right. The question for the Cubs is whether that comfort level, plus the immediate need on the mound, is enough to make Peralta a realistic target as the deadline chatter starts to sharpen. [Read more 🡒]