The Chicago Cubs are set to pick at No. 17 in the 2025 MLB Draft, which will kick off at 5 p.m. CT Sunday evening.

Because they’re selecting in the middle of the first round, it’s nearly impossible to project how the draft will play out ahead of them.

President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, VP of scouting Dan Kantrovitz and the rest of the Cubs front office will have to be flexible with their draft board.

As the draft draws near, experts around the game weighed in with their ideas on where the Cubs might go at No. 17:

MLB Pipeline

Brendan Summerhill, OF, Arizona

Here is what Jonathan Mayo wrote as his rationale:

The Cubs appear to be focusing on college players and leaning bat, with Summerhill getting the edge over someone like Aloy. If they wanted to go arm, this could be a good landing spot for Bremner and Arkansas right-hander Gage Wood could enter the conversation.

As Mayo mentioned, he considered Arkansas shortstop Wehiwa Aloy in the spot, as well as Wood or UC Santa Barbara right-hander Tyler Bremner. In his mock, Mayo has Bremner going at pick No. 16, Wood at 20 and Aloy at 22.

Summerhill is an interesting choice for several reasons, starting with the fact that he is a Chicagoland native. He was born in Chicago and attended Whitney Young High School.

The 21-year-old outfielder had a stellar junior season with Arizona in 2025, hitting .343/.459/.556 (1.015 OPS) with four homers and 11 stolen bases in 44 games. He walked (36) more than he struck out (24) and also collected six triples and 12 doubles.

CBS Sports

Gavin Kilen, 2B, Tennessee

Mike Axisa explained his thoughts below:

Every college hitter expected to go in the middle of the first round (Wehiwa Aloy, Marek Houston, Jace LaViolette, Brendan Summerhill, etc.) has been rumored to be of interest to the Cubs at some point this spring. There is some thought Kilen, who was a pretty excellent player for the Volunteers, has untapped potential, particularly in the swing decision department. He’s seen as more of an upside play than the typical middle-of-the-first-round college hitter.

Kilen, 21, put up impressive numbers with Tennessee in 2025, smashing 15 homers with 46 RBI in 53 games. He hit .357/.441/.671 (1.112 OPS) and walked more than he struck out (30:27).

The left-handed-hitting middle infielder was originally drafted in the 13th round by the Red Sox in 2022, but opted to attend college instead. He did not hit a home run during his 46-game freshman season but obviously found his power stroke as his collegiate career went on.

ESPN

Josh Hammond, 3B, Wesleyan Christian HS (NC)

Kiley McDaniel has the Cubs taking a high school bat, something they have not done since selecting Chicago area native Ed Howard in 2020.

In fact, the Cubs have rarely targeted high schoolers with their first-round pick. Over the last 20 years, they have drafted only five prep players in the first round:

2020 – Ed Howard, SS
2012 – Albert Almora, OF
2012 – Paul Blackburn, RHP
2011 – Javy Báez, SS
2007 – Josh Vitters, 3B

And of that group, Blackburn was selected at No. 56 overall as a compensation pick for the loss of free agent Carlos Peña.

Instead, the Cubs have opted to prioritize college bats and arms — and that strategy has certainly paid off, especially recently.

Theo Epstein and Hoyer’s front office hit on a number of first-rounders (Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, Ian Happ, Nico Hoerner) from 2013-18 and the previous regime certainly made a good decision with Báez.

In the last four drafts as Hoyer has taken over as chief decision-maker in the Cubs front office, the team has selected Jordan Wicks (2021), Cade Horton (2022), Matt Shaw (2023) and Cam Smith (2024). All four players came from the collegiate ranks and all four have found varying levels of success in the majors.

When the Cubs were in Houston late last month, three of those recent first-rounders were all on the field at the same time — Horton and Shaw for the Cubs and Smith for the Astros. Smith was a centerpiece of the trade that brought Kyle Tucker to Chicago in December.

Yet in this year’s draft, McDaniel is projecting the Cubs buck their recent trend and dip into the high school ranks for Hammond. Here’s why:

The Cubs lean toward exit velos/athleticism when it comes to high schoolers and Hammond is one of the better examples in the class. This is right about the middle of his range, along with Xavier Neyens, a similar, left-handed version of Hammond who is also connected to the Cubs. Arkansas teammates Wehiwa Aloy and Gage Wood are also mentioned here along with Tyler Bremner.

Keep an eye on Cooper Flemming, Josh Flores and Jake Munroe at later picks.

McDaniel also ranked the Top 250 draft prospects and had Hammond at No. 17 — exactly where he mocked the young infielder going in the draft.

For reference, Kilen came in at No. 20 on McDaniel’s ranking while Summerhill was 14th.