Don’t Call Us, We’ll Scout You. Or Not.

Twice this week, over the course of three games, Cubs’ pitchers have given up homeruns to rookies from the Chicago area. This has to be some kind of record. On Wednesday, 23-year old Jack Suwinski hit a game-winning homer off Drew Smyly for the Pirates. Suwinski attended Taft High School on the Northwest Side, apparently too far for scouts from the Cubs or White Sox to bother with. The Padres took him in the fifteenth round of the 2016 Draft before trading him to the Pirates last July as part of a deal for infielder Adam Frazier. Yesterday, Alek Thomas of the Diamondbacks went deep against Daniel Norris in a 10-6 Arizona win. If Suwinski has been struggling (batting .176 with three homers in 68 at-bats), Thomas has hit the ground running, with a .349 BA in 42 at-bats that includes three homers, seven runs scored and five RBI’s. Not bad for a kid who was playing at Mt. Carmel High School on the South Side in 2018. The Diamondbacks took him in the second round. Maybe the Cubs couldn’t find Mt. Carmel on a map; I wouldn’t be surprised. But what’s the White Sox excuse? Thomas’s father spent years the team’s strength and conditioning director, until this season. My God, the kid used to shag fly balls during spring training. And who did we draft instead? Steele Walker, since departed to Texas for Nomar Mazara and still in the minors. The Sox are said to be looking for a left-handed hitting outfielder. What a coincidence that Thomas bats lefty. Luis Gonzalez does, too. You remember him, right? Drafted in 2017, didn’t show much in two cups of coffee, released last season. The Giants signed him, and are they glad they did. Gonzalez is hitting .338 with two homers and fifteen RBIs in just 68 at-bats. Chicago, where the teams can’t scout local talent and can’t develop the talent they do scout.