Chicago Cubs' Scouting Director Tim Wilken Opens Up About the Organization

: What are the differences in what you’re looking for early in the draft as compared to later rounds?

 

TW: Earlier, you’re looking for players with a higher ceiling. Later, getting to rounds five and beyond, you’re looking for players with average or slightly less than average type tools that you can hopefully make into an everyday player, or organizational depth being the type of player that can become part of the twenty-five man roster.

 

 

DH: Some players can have all of the tools in the world, like a Corey Patterson, but they never achieve what’s predicted for them. How can you tell if a player has what it takes to become a star ballplayer?

 

TW: Sometimes you’ll see a player that has tremendous physical attributes, but the part of the game that you’re looking for and what you’re alluding to; it doesn’t necessarily show up. You’re evaluating tools, but the player’s ability or lack of playing ability doesn’t always show in quick looks.

 

 

DH: In a Baseball Prospectus article that appeared in a Paul Sullivan column a while back, it said that the Cub farm system didn’t fare too well in their evaluation, and their quote was, “This is a weak system in which finding any future Cub stars requires a bit of dreaming.”

 

Also, when it came to trying to trade for CC Sabathia and for Jake Peavy, it was said by scouts of other teams that the Cubs didn’t have the players in their minor league system to pull off those deals. What’s your take on those statements?

 

TW: I’m a prideful person and I could say let them come and see the whole system. A lot of their evaluations are what they see statistically. Some things we can improve upon here.

 

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