2025 Chicago Cubs Draft Pick Target: Devin Taylor

Photo courtesy: Indiana

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - Sunday, February 16 2025

Although baseball hasn't officially started from a game side of things, the 2025 baseball season is underway as the Chicago Cubs' first team workout is right around the corner. Before you know it, Cubs baseball will return for what hopes to be a successful 2025 campaign.

Lost in the shuffle of Spring and all that is tied to it is the College Baseball season officially kicked off this week, with most teams starting over the weekend. While college baseball isn't a topic of conversation among casual baseball fans, it's worth noting that once their season starts, the Cubs can officially begin scouting who they would like to select with their first-round pick in 2025.

While July seems like a ways away, and in reality, four-plus months is a long time, time flies when you are having fun, and before you know it, summer and the MLB draft will be here. Looking ahead to the MLB draft, the Cubs will have the 17th pick in this year's draft after narrowly missing out on the postseason.

Landing in that range of the first round puts this team in a tough spot as they won't have an opportunity to draft some of the high-end talent and will be stuck in a situation where they will be taking the best player available. Ultimately, that is the goal for every team, but if you're a team with needs, those needs may not be addressed as you would like in the draft.

Over the next few months, we will examine several prospects who the Cubs could target at No. 17, hoping to make them the next big thing in Chicago. This won't be an everyday column but a once-a-week one as we enter the Mock Draft season for Major League Baseball.

First up is Indiana outfielder Devin Taylor, who is being connected to the Cubs at pick No. 17.

According to Baseball America, he is the 20th-ranked prospect. The 21-year-old Taylor was the best offensive prospect among Ohip prep players before enrolling at Indiana. Since then, the 6-1 215 Taylor has put on a show and has emerged as one of the best outfield prospects in his class.

When you look at his days as a prep star in Ohio, there was a lot to like about his game, and many felt Taylor was good enough to go pro right out of high school. While that may have been the case, his game wasn't as well-rounded as he would've liked, so he wound up at college to fine-tune his skills.

That has proven good for him as he became the first Hoosier in program history to earn First-Team All-Big 10 honors in his first two seasons and will be eyeing a third straight this Spring. After setting a school freshman record with 59 RBIs in 2023, Taylor continued to impress last season when he clubbed 20 homers to lead the conference.

He continued that success with a strong showing in the Cape Cod League, hitting .296 with five homers and 18 RBIs in 29 games. That gives him a career .306 average in 62 Cape Cod games, connecting for 13 homers and driving in 46. The bat is as close to professional-ready as it can get, and this could be the final season for him to further improveto improve his stock furtherylor shown plenty of power in his first two seasons, but he has also done so by controlling the strike zone. Sure, he does get chase-happy at times, but Taylor has an excellent feel for the zone and is one of the better bat-to-ball contact guys in this draft. Having the eye he has comes in handy from the power side of things, as he can zero in on a pitch to his liking and deliver plenty of hits with hard contact to all fields.

While his offense will continue to be his calling card throughout his career, the rest of his game is more mediocre at best. Although not a below-average runner, Taylor lacks the speed you look for in an outfielder. Put that together with an average arm and below-average defensive instincts, and you may have a situation where Taylor becomes a permanent DH at the professional level.

That is rare at the college level, but given that he grades out as nothing more than a corner outfielder at best, becoming the DH gives him additional opportunities to have his bat in the lineup. Should the Cubs target Taylor, he is more of an upside play when you look at his offensive ceiling, and he would go away from what the Cubs have been doing in recent drafts.