CHICAGO -- As Cubs vice president of scouting Dan Kantrovitz and his team prepared for this year’s pool of Draft-eligible players, the working plan was to focus on position players early on and then pivot to a pitcher-heavy approach after the midway point. That was precisely how things played out for the North Siders.

“Looking back on it, I can say we accomplished what we wanted to accomplish,” Kantrovitz said. “I think we ended up getting some future big leaguers, some future Cubs and, hopefully, some future impact big leaguers.”

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Beginning with the first-round selection of Florida State third baseman Cam Smith (No. 14 overall), Chicago used eight of its 10 picks in the Draft’s first two days on position players. On Tuesday, the Cubs put the finishing touches on their ‘24 class by picking seven pitchers in the final 10 rounds.

Overall, the Cubs picked nine pitchers (six righties and three lefties), seven infielders (three first basemen, two shortstops and two third basemen), two outfielders and two catchers.

Kantrovitz said he would be “surprised” if the Cubs were not able to sign all of their picks, including the trio of high schoolers Chicago selected: 17-year-old shortstop Ronny Cruz (third round), 19-year-old shortstop Ty Southisene (fourth round), and outfielder Eli Lovich (11th round). The other 17 picks for Chicago came from the college ranks.

Here are three takeaways from the Cubs’ Draft:

Increase in pre-Draft workouts played role in building ‘24 class
Kantrovitz estimated that the Cubs roughly tripled the number of pre-Draft workouts hosted this year in order to better gather information and get to know prospects. The team held about a dozen such events leading up to the Draft this year and nearly half of the players picked by Chicago were attendees.

“It’s a really huge advantage, in our opinion,” Kantrovitz said. “That led to us putting quite a bit of time into scaling up those workouts this year. I think it ended up paying off this year in the Draft.”

Kantrovitz said the Cubs’ pre-Draft workouts included players who were outside the list of highly-ranked prospects who were selected for the MLB combine. He felt it was especially helpful for Day 3 of the Draft, when Chicago could make selections with a greater sense of confidence based on the extra time spent with players in person.

It gave the evaluators opportunities to chat with the players during drills, batting practice or mound workouts. The Cubs were also able to see how players interacted with coaches and staff, while collecting data in the process.

“That ends up being a pretty compelling source of information and familiarity,” Kantrovitz said.

Eighth-rounder could be ‘sleeper’ from first 10 rounds
Every year throughout the Draft, there are players whom scouts fight for behind the scenes. One within Chicago’s class was Nicholls State first baseman Edgar Alvarez, whom Kantrovitz described as a “gut-feel guy” for area scout Will Swoope.

“There's players that have baseball card numbers that kind of jump off the page,” Kantrovitz said. “But what he has is a beautiful, pure swing.”

At 23 years old, Alvarez is on the older side for a Draft pick, but the numbers he posted this past season are eye-popping. The lefty-swinging first baseman hit .405/.514/.678 with 13 homers, 21 doubles, 67 RBIs and far more walks (53) than strikeouts (32) in 58 games. Alvarez also took home the ABCA-Rawlings Gold Glove Award for first.

“I had the pleasure of talking with him actually today during the Draft,” Kantrovitz said. “He was just really excited about the opportunity, and we're excited to give it to him. I think he could end up being a sleeper.”

Aschenbeck jumps out among Cubs’ Day 3 selections
In the 11th round on Tuesday, the Cubs grabbed lefty Evan Aschenbeck, who was one of college baseball’s top relievers this past season with Texas A&M.

Aschenbeck logged multiple innings in 28 of his 32 appearances, led Division I in ERA (1.78), and helped the Aggies finish as the runner-up to Tennessee in the College World Series. The lefty took home the Stopper of the Year award via the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

“They used him in a pretty intelligent way with high-leverage situations,” Kantrovitz said.

In his 75 2/3 innings this past season, Aschenbeck racked up 87 strikeouts and 12 walks, ending with 10 saves. He did so with a fastball that sits around 88-92 mph, plus a slider and changeup.

“He comes at you from a really nasty angle,” Kantrovitz said. “He can spin a breaker, and then he kind of comes at you with that split-change. I mean, that thing’s lethal.”