The Cubs secured another series win to kick off their final trip before the All-Star break, taking care of business in Baltimore.
Their starters set the tone as Matthew Boyd, Colin Rea and David Peterson combined to allow four runs in 16 1/3 innings (2.20 ERA) in winning two of three against the Orioles. The Cubs conclude the first half with a three-game set against the Reds in Cincinnati.
The Sox, who scored only two runs total while being swept at home by the Boston Red Sox, will head to the All-Star break after a three-game series against the Athletics, which begins Friday at Rate Field.
Every Friday during the regular season, Tribune baseball writers will provide an update on what happened — and what’s ahead — for the Cubs and White Sox.
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Cubs could target pitching in draft
The Cubs have tended to target similar profiles in recent drafts.
In the last five years, their first-round selections were all out of college with the last three being hitters. The Cubs ultimately used four of their first six picks on position players in 2025, one year after taking a hitter with eight of their first 10 selections, including six consecutive to begin the ’24 draft.
Their 2026 draft could shift in the other direction with more focus on bolstering their pitching in the farm system. The Cubs, holding the No. 23 pick in the first round, have $9,644,100 for their bonus-pool allotment, which ranks 19th.
“One of the things that we’ve looked at in years past, in the last few years in particular, is well, how do we allocate more of our draft pool to pitching without leaking wins or overall the draft value, which has always been our north star,” vice president of scouting Dan Kantrovitz said Sunday. “We go into our draft being pretty agnostic of position player versus pitcher, just wanting to take the best player available in the spirit of trying to get the most future wins out of the draft.
“The reality is we’re going to try to probably be a little less just dogmatic about maybe sticking to that and realizing that practically to get more good pitching we just might have to take more pitching. I think that’s just the most obvious lever to pull.”
The Cubs’ recent draft trends toward position players are reflected in the organization’s top-end prospect talent.
Among the Cubs’ top-10 prospects, according to MLB.com, only two are pitchers: No. 3, right-hander Jaxon Wiggins, who has missed a chunk of the season with elbow inflammation; and No. 10, right-hander Kaleb Wing, taken in the fourth round last year though currently on the injured list at Low A Myrtle Beach.
“Honestly, for the most part, it comes down to investing more of our draft capital in pitching,” Kantrovitz said. “If you’re going to accelerate the amount of pitching that we have throughout the system via the draft, and that’s just the most obvious place to start, just take more pitching, invest more in it.”
For any pitchers the Cubs target in the draft, the likely two main qualities they possess are velocity and spin.
“We’ve done a lot of work to try to figure out which pitchers are going to have the most success in our system,” Kantrovitz said. “Everybody’s development style and approach is somewhat unique. Ours is no different, and when you look at those pitchers that thrive in our system, the underlying pillars end up being velocity and being spin. Those are two good places to start when you’re talking about, OK, well, if we’re going to increase volume, what do we want to see out of those pictures? What are two just key attributes?”
When assessing the talent in this year’s draft class, Kantrovitz doesn’t see the same strong top-of-the-draft talent compared with other years, though that could be made up for by more depth in the later rounds. However, Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals in college now and the expansion of NIL budgets might affect those options.
“You’re now going to start to see that really compete with draft signing bonuses at a certain point, and that could happen this year,” Kantrovitz said. “That could mean that as you get later on into the draft, you’re going to get players that have very good options to go back to school, and so it’s going to be difficult for them, if we only have X amount of dollars left in our pool, their best bet might be to go back to school.”
Decision day for top pick nears for the Sox
Decision day is nearing for the Sox, who have the No. 1 pick Saturday in the MLB draft.
“We’re not looking for a savior,” Sox director of amateur scouting Mike Shirley said Wednesday. “That’s never been (general manager Chris Getz’s) goal to find saviors. It’s been his goal to continue to add to the totality of this team.”
The Sox are contemplating selecting either UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky, Texas high school shortstop Grady Emerson or Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey with the first pick.
Contact, decision and damage are high on the priority list.
Shirley said of Cholowsky: “He was the shortstop, the leader and the captain of the No. 1 college team in America. He is foundational on the field with his habits. He’s a leader on the field. He has very secure defense at shortstop, so he does the things defensively that you want a six-hole guy to do.
“I think the power is real. He does those three pillars we talked about. He controls the zone. There’s contact and there’s damage, and he plays shortstop.”
Shirley said Emerson is “an elite high school player.”
“It’s an elite high school hit tool and he does it really easy,” Shirley said.
Shirley said Lackey “is a supreme athlete who really could define the catcher position and be foundational defensively. Real power and there’s a lot of traits to him that we’re continuing to dig on.”
Shirley said the message from Getz is “we are taking the best player.”
“It’s not about the major-league team, it’s not about the money, it’s about who is the best player,” Shirley said. “It’s a little bit out of our hands if the agencies or representation of the player ask for a record bonus that we are not comfortable with.
“That would be the only indication that make us pivot a little bit, what the actual cost was. We’ve been focused on the best player to support the major-league team. (Sox manager) Will (Venable) has done a great job and we want to continue to support him.”
Number of the week: 125
The Sox have hit 125 home runs, eight shy of the franchise record before the All-Star break (133 in 2006).
Week ahead: Cubs
- Friday: at Reds, 6:10 p.m., Marquee
- Saturday: at Reds, 6:10 p.m., Marquee
- Sunday: at Reds, 12:40 p.m., Marquee
Everyday at-bats haven’t been the norm for catcher Miguel Amaya.
But he has been making the most of his opportunities lately, with both his arm and bat. In Tuesday’s win over the Orioles, Amaya tallied his sixth multihit game and reached safely three times for the fourth time this season. In his last 31 games with an at-bat, Amaya has reached safely in 25 of those appearances dating to April 23 to give him a .376 on-base percentage in that span.
Amaya, behind the plate again in Thursday’s series finale, was robbed of a hit on Orioles center fielder Leody Taveras’ diving catch.
“Our catchers in general have quietly again provided really good production,” manager Craig Counsell said. “Last year it was a bunch of home runs. This year the best part has been they’re on base. They’ve just done a great job of getting on base, and Miguel has done it in a role where playing time’s been a little more sporadic, and that’s always impressive when you can produce offensively with irregular playing time.”
Amaya’s defensive performance earned praise from Counsell, who said the 27-year-old is “his best defensive self as a big-leaguer this year.” Counsell cited how well Amaya has been throwing the ball on steal attempts and his framing.
“The ABS has it like, ‘Oh, receiving doesn’t matter anymore,’ but it still matters,” Counsell said. “You still want the pitch called a strike, and it still forces the other team to (go), ‘Should I challenge it, should I not challenge it?’ so the receiving still matters.”
Amaya’s is averaging a career-high 83.4 mph on his throws and a career-best 1.91 seconds on his pop time on caught stealings at second base.
“Some years your arm just doesn’t cooperate and you can’t get it to a good place, but he’s got it in a really good place, and probably finally back to where he feels like it should be,” Counsell said. “You work at it. The work has always been there, now it’s back.”
Week ahead: White Sox
- Friday: vs. Athletics, 6:40 p.m., CHSN, The U
- Saturday: vs. Athletics, 1:10 p.m., CHSN
- Sunday: vs. Athletics, 1:10 p.m., CHSN
Scott Podsednik gave an honest preview of Saturday’s alumni home run derby.
“I’m probably not one of the favorites,” he said Thursday. “I probably have the least amount of home runs of anyone to ever participate in a home run derby.”
Podsednik, known for his walk-off home run in Game 2 of the 2005 World Series, is one of six former Sox players scheduled to participate. The event is slated for after Saturday’s game at Rate Field.
“I heard home run derby and I immediately said I’m going to remind you of two things — one, I was a leadoff hitter and I only have 42 career homers. And two, I’m 50 years old so I don’t know how I’m going to be able to drag that bat through the zone,” Podsednik said.
The list of players taking part in the three-round format also includes José Canseco, Gordon Beckham, Leury García, Daniel Palka and Alexei Ramírez.
“I’m excited about it,” Podsednik said. “I’m appreciative of the White Sox asking me to participate. I couldn’t say no. I think it’s going to be very interesting.”
What we’re reading today
- White Sox hope Munetaka Murakami can provide ‘a great jolt’ in return Friday after being swept at home
- 3 takeaways from Cubs’ series win, including Seiya Suzuki snapping his slump and starters delivering
- 2026 MLB draft: White Sox have the No. 1 pick, while the Cubs sit at No. 23. Here’s what else to know.
- Pete Crow-Armstrong becomes MLB’s 1st 20-20 player this season, hitting two HRs in Cubs’ 9-7 win
- Caleb Bonemer, the top White Sox prospect, is preparing for ‘special opportunity’ at Futures Game
- Phil Regan, former Cubs and White Sox pitcher and a longtime coach, dies at 89
- Miguel Vargas is 1st Chicago White Sox 3B to make the All-Star team since Joe Crede in 2008
- Return to starting in 2026 ‘not realistic’ for Cubs’ Justin Steele as he continues injury recovery
- Column: 10 years later, former Cubs star Willson Contreras still loves being in the fight
- Starter Jameson Taillon on track to rejoin the Cubs after the All-Star break at the latest
- Column: Has Pete Crow-Armstrong’s popularity slipped? Who will the White Sox draft? 8 baseball thoughts.
- Cubs CF Pete Crow-Armstrong named an All-Star for the 2nd consecutive season: ‘It really means a lot’
Quotable
“Our approach overall as a staff and as a bullpen, just attacking people and trusting your stuff, and series like these, facing the Orioles where you’re only going to face them one time during the season, to just really trust yourself out there and then kind of go from there. But this next series against the Reds is going to be huge for us — hopefully we can have some positive things going into the break.” — Cubs right-hander Colin Rea on how the pitching staff has stepped up despite all the injuries.
