The Cubs have made no secret that pitching depth is the priority in this farm system, and their third-round pick just put pen to paper on it. Nebraska righty Carson Jasa signed with Chicago for $750,000, according to Jim Callis, a number that actually comes in under the $800,000 slot value for pick No. 98 but still gets a premium arm off the board and locked into the org before summer ball even really starts.
3rd-rder Carson Jasa signs w/@Cubs for $750k (slot 98 value = $800k). @HuskerBaseball RHP owns some of the nastiest breaking stuff in @MLBDraft, downer 78-82 mph curveball & upper-80s slider. To 98 mph w/fastball that needs more command. Interesting arm for pitching-needy Cubs.
What they're buying is a 6-foot-7 problem for opposing hitters. Jasa spent the spring turning into one of the Big Ten's best arms, going 10-2 with a 3.59 ERA over 87.2 innings for Nebraska and racking up 117 strikeouts, the fifth-most in a single season in program history. He became just the 13th Husker pitcher ever to hit double-digit wins in a season, and the first to do it since 2007. That's the kind of breakout that turns a redshirt sophomore into a third-round pick with real helium.
The pitch that got him there is the one Callis flagged: a downer curveball sitting 78-82 mph that hitters simply couldn't touch. Opponents went 6-for-111 against it this season, a laughable .054 average, to go with 81 strikeouts on the pitch alone. Pair that with an upper-80s slider that plays off the same shape and you've got two distinct swing-and-miss weapons before he even reaches for the fastball.
The fastball is the actual project. Jasa can run it up to 98 mph, and Callis's read matches what scouts have said all spring, that the heater needs more command before it's a true weapon. At his size, with a below-average feel for locating the fastball right now, there's real reliever risk here. But there's also a starter's ceiling if player development can iron out the delivery and get strikes with that velocity, which is exactly the kind of bet a pitching-needy system should be making in Round 3.
Getting him signed for $750,000, a touch below slot, also gives the Cubs a little extra bonus pool flexibility to spread around on other late-round senior signs or under-slot deals elsewhere in the draft class. It's a small market inefficiency, but it adds up when you're trying to build organizational pitching depth several picks at a time.
For a Cubs system that's leaned hard into drafting arms with spin over the last few cycles, Jasa fits the mold, huge frame, elite breaking stuff, fastball command as the swing skill. Now it's on player development to find out whether that curveball and slider are enough to fast-track him, or whether he needs a longer runway to sort out the heater first.