Cubs Spend First Two Draft Picks on College Infielders Cam Smith, Cole Mathis

This is when I really miss having our guys who went on to form North Side Bound a couple of years ago, because they really dug the MLB Draft. Now that it’s shoehorned into All-Star Break, it’s nearly impossible for those of us who aren’t draftniks to really get a handle on it. From what I’ve gathered, the Cubs’ picks of infielders Cam Smith (Florida State) and Cole Mathis (College of Charleston) were more or less par for the course.

Both players figure to command right around their slot values, maybe a little less, and they should have relatively high floors even if their ceilings aren’t necessarily sky-high. That isn’t to say neither has a high ceiling, just that their respective skill sets should allow them to be pretty successful whether or not they reach their max output.

Smith is a big-bodied third baseman who the Cubs believe can stick at the position and he’s able to generate very loud contact with high exit velocities. He’s someone the organization has had eyes on for a while and the Cubs prioritized him over some other very good players, so it’s clear they see some things they really like.

“Cam is actually somebody that — dating back to high school when he was coming out of South Florida — we had quite a bit of interest,”  Cubs VP of scouting Dan Kantrovitz explained of the selection. “His combination of performance and tools and still some upside with some unlocks that we’ve identified, I think, make it a pretty exciting combination of characteristics. He’s somebody that, I think, checked a lot different boxes for us.”

Smith wasted no time ingratiating himself to Cubs fans, telling Cole Wright about how his grandparents took him to Wrigley Field several years ago.

“My grandma got me into the sport of baseball,” the No. 14 overall selection shared. “She’s a huge Cubs fan, and she was here with me tonight when I got selected…so, man, it was great. I went there to take a tour, behind the scenes when I was really small, I don’t really remember, but I got pictures and stuff.

“Yeah, man, it’s huge in our family, the Chicago Cubs. I was more excited for her than myself because she’s the one that got me into the sport.”

Mathis didn’t put up monster numbers, but he was a standout in the Cape Cod League and has excellent contact numbers, so Kantrovitz and others in the front office are probably banking on similar unlocks there.

“He’s just got a natural swing plane that lends itself to consistently hitting the ball in the air,” Kantrovitz said. “And then with his with his size and strength, he ends up putting a pretty good charge into it. So I’d say a combination of contact, power, and doing that in the air with a pretty symmetrical spray distribution, too.”

Going with more polished college bats should allow the Cubs to take bigger risks in subsequent rounds, though they could also seek to load up on players who will move quickly through the system. How they choose to attack the remaining picks may inform their trade deadline decisions and vice versa, as Jed Hoyer isn’t in a position to delay a move into consistently competitive results at the big league level.

For more on these first two picks, check out the press release…

The Chicago Cubs tonight completed the first two rounds of the 2024 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by selecting infielder Cam Smith out of Florida State University in the first round (14th overall pick) and infielder Cole Mathis out of the College of Charleston in the second round (54th overall pick).

Smith was recommended by area scout Ike Ballou and Mathis was recommended by area scout M’Lynn Dease.

Smith, 21, batted .387 (104-for-269) with 22 doubles, one triple, 16 home runs, 47 RBI, and a 1.142 OPS in 66 games for Florida State in 2024. He recorded 44 walks, compared to 48 strikeouts, contributing to a .488 on-base percentage. Smith saw a batting average increase of 129 points, from .258 as a freshman. In postseason play, Smith hit homers in back-to-back games against UCF in the regionals and went 5-for-9 in two games against UConn in the super regionals. All told in postseason play, Smith batted .314 (11-for-35) with two home runs, seven RBI and a 1.032 OPS.

As a freshman in 2023, the six-foot three-inch, 229-pound Smith hit .258 (54-for-209) with eight doubles, five triples, 12 home runs, 36 RBI and a .843 OPS in 51 games. He ranked second on the Seminoles in runs (39), hits and walks (21) and third in RBI en route to ACC All-Freshman and All-Academic Team honors. Following the season, Smith earned the 2023 Robert A. McNece Award for the Most Outstanding Prospect in the Cape Cod League, appearing in 44 games for Hyannis, batting .347 (58-for-167) with 12 doubles, four triples, six home runs and 26 RBI. In two seasons at Florida State, Smith has hit a combined .331 (158-for-478) with 30 doubles, six triples, 28 home runs, 93 RBI and a 1.014 OPS in 117 games.

A Lake Worth, Fla. native, Smith graduated from Palm Beach Central High School in Wellington, Fla. He was ranked by Perfect Game as the No. 1 shortstop in Florida and No. 53 overall prospect nationally in 2022. He was named a First Team All-American in both his junior and senior seasons.

Mathis, 20, played three seasons at the College of Charleston, batting a combined .327 (136-for-416) with 38 doubles, three triples, 24 home runs and 112 RBI in 133 games. In 2024, Mathis was named to the All-CAA First Team and the CAA All-Tournament Team, after he ranked fifth in the CAA in OPS (1.122), tied for fifth in runs (63) and sixth in slugging percentage (.650), doubles (17) and RBI (57). During the campaign, he batted .335 (67-for-200) with a .472 on-base percentage.

In 2023, the six-foot one-inch Mathis appeared in 56 games for the College of Charleston, leading the team in average (.330), doubles (20), slugging percentage (.575), walks (41), runs (48) and OPS (1.014), while posting a 3.45 ERA (23 ER/60.0 IP) in 14 games (10 starts) on the mound.

Born in Cataula, Ga., Mathis attended Harris County High School (Ga.), where he was named First Team All-State in 2019 and 2021, while being named the Region I-5A Player of the Year in 2019 and the Region II-5A Hitter of the Year in 2021.

The 2024 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft continues tomorrow with rounds 3-10, before concluding on Tuesday with rounds 11-20.