For the past four years, the Chicago Cubs have focused on recruiting college players in the first round.

It’s already paying off. For example, Jordan Wicks, a left-handed pitcher and 2021 first-round pick, has already made his major league debut.

Cade Horton, their 2022 first-round pick out of Oklahoma, is playing at Triple-A Iowa but is out for the rest of the season with an injury. The plan is for him to compete for a spot on the major league roster next year.

Maryland infielder Matt Shaw, a first-round draft pick last year, was just promoted to Triple-A and played in the MLB Futures Game last month.

Last month, the Cubs selected Florida State’s Cam Smith in the first round, signing the power hitter with a $5 million signing bonus and sending him to Class-A Myrtle Beach, but he has the talent to move quickly through the system.

The Cubs are on track to miss the playoffs and get a mid-first-round draft pick. Bleacher Report recently put together a mock draft for 2025 and predicted that the Cubs will end their streak of college players and go with a pitcher – Seth Hernandez of Corona, California.

The Cubs selected number 12 overall in this simulation game.

He recently caught the attention of MLB scouts and fans alike after throwing a 100 mph fastball as a pitcher in the Area Code Games, a popular tournament for college and professional scouts.

He’s already committed to play college baseball at Vanderbilt, but he has what it takes to skip the college ranks and go straight to the pros, with some considering him the best pitching prospect in the draft.

According to B/R, what the scouts like is that he is already pretty well positioned for a pitcher in the prep phase. In addition to the fastball, he shines with good control and technique. He has also developed an above-average change-up.

Teams that select Hernandez might be intrigued by the fact that he can play the field as well. Perfect Game lists him as a corner infielder and outfielder. He played in Perfect Game’s 2024 All-America Classic.

The last prep player the Cubs selected in the first round was Ed Howard, a shortstop from Mount Carmel High School in Chicago. Howard is still with the Cubs, at their High-A affiliate in South Bend.

Chicago hasn’t taken a prep pitcher in the first round since 2012, when they selected Paul Blackburn out of Heritage High School in Brentwood, Calif., as a compensatory first-round pick. Blackburn now pitches for the New York Mets.