Cubs Draft Prospect Target: James Tibbs |
It's another week and another MLB Mock draft for the Cubs. This will become more of the norm for the next month as the MLB draft is roughly six weeks away. Unlike the previous Mock drafts that have linked the Cubs to the same names multiple times, this week's mock draft makes a ton of sense for the Cubs, especially when you look at their current offensive struggles.
In the most recent mock draft, MLB.com has the Chicago Cubs taking Florida State OF James Tibbs No. 14 overall. Considering how he is regarded as the 22nd-best prospect, some would call this a bit of a reach, but when you look at his numbers, you will see that it is anything but a reach. Tibbs is your classic bat-only guy, similar to what this organization viewed Kyle Schwarber as for years. With the NL adopting the DH a few seasons back, having a bat-only guy isn't a terrible idea, especially not one from the left side. As things sit, Tibbs projects as a left fielder and has put up impressive numbers this season. As things stand heading into the Regional round of the NCAA tournament, Tibbs has a slash line of .387/.494/.848. Pair that with his 23 homers, and you can see why he is climbing up the draft board to the point where plenty of scouts have this as his floor. Tibbs has always been regarded as one of the best bats in his class, going back to his prep days at Pope High School in Georgia. He ultimately committed to Florida State, where he has done nothing but hit since day one. With a combined 1.066 OPS over his first two seasons, including hitting 17 homers and slugging .682 as a sophomore in 2023, Tibbs has been climbing up the draft boards for the better part of two years, but he firmly cemented his stock as a first-round talent during the summer of 2023. As part of the Cape Cod League, Tibbs continued to rake with a wood bat, hitting .303/.390/.472 with six homers over the summer. He then carried that over to his current season with the Seminoles, and the numbers speak for themselves as to what he can bring to the table. In a league where it has become home run or bust more often than not, Tibbs bat gets him drafted in the first round, which may not be a bad thing. The left-handed hitter is confident and smart at the plate, and his approach has improved over his time at Florida State. That includes a walk rate that has continued to go up in each of his three seasons while also cutting down his strikeout rate. Tibbs is a dead-red fastball hitter and has always punished fastballs. On the other hand, the off-speed stuff can give him issues, but he has done a better job becoming a better all-around hitter against those offerings while also showing above-average power to all fields. Given his lack of defensive ability, Tibbs is going to be limited to either an LF role or even a DH-only type of player. He isn't the most athletic player in the world, and his below-average speed has many scouts wondering if he could end up at 1B in the future. Tibbs has seen more time at 1B this season, and although the results haven't been great, it does create more versatility for him to find a permanent place in the field. That alone means his bat would be in the lineup more often than not, which could lead to big-time power numbers. When you look at how the Cubs have drafted in recent years, Tibbs doesn't follow that trend, but instead is going back to the 2013-2016 days when the Cubs targeted college-level power bats. You know how things worked out last time they did that which is the hopes for this team yet again. No one will say that drafting power hitters will pan out like last time. However, with plenty of young pitching starting to emerge throughout the system, it's time for the organization to surround that pitching with power-hitting players. Tibbs is one of those guys and is an excellent fit for this team.
