Chicago bet on a young pitcher's elite spin rate despite a locker room clash that sidelined the right-hander for nearly his entire college season.
The Chicago Cubs continue to go after pitching in this year’s MLB Draft.
The Cubs selected Ole Miss right-hander Cade Townsend with the 23rd overall pick and then proceeded to select nine pitchers across their first 11 picks. After selecting Myles Bailey with the 75th overall pick, the front office took eight straight pitchers from Round 3 to Round 10.
One of those pitchers was West Virginia right-hander Chase Meyer.
The North Siders selected Meyer in the ninth round of the 2026 MLB Draft. The 6-foot-2 pitcher was the 277th overall pick and was the eighth pitcher that the organization selected in the draft. This slot value pick came in at $204,100.
But Meyer is an interesting selection because he didn’t even throw many innings with the Mountaineers this past college season. The 21-year-old only threw 3 ⅓ innings after being kicked off the West Virginia team early in the year.
Meyer was reportedly dismissed from the team following a locker room incident.
Reports state that Meyer was among several players who criticized the in-game coaching decisions. Head baseball coach Steve Sabins overheard those conversations and confronted the right-hander. Sabins suspended the pitcher indefinitely and eventually dismissed him from the program.
Meyer was expected to be the Mountaineers' ace entering the year. But a preseason finger injury and a dismissal from the program made it a season to forget for the right-hander. Despite that, the Cubs still took a chance on Meyer in the ninth round.
Meyer is a high-spin-rate pitcher with plenty of potential. He has a fastball that sits in the mid-to-upper 90s and a slider that regularly registers between 3,233 and 3,243 RPM, which was among the highest at the MLB Draft Combine.
That potential was definitely on display in his last full college campaign at West Virginia in 2025. Meyer finished with a 3.94 ERA, a 1.458 WHIP, and a 28.9% strikeout rate across 22 appearances. He struck 63 batters over 48 innings pitched that year.
The 21-year-old has also pitched in two summer leagues to prepare for the draft (the MLB Draft League and the Cape Cod League).
Meyer allowed five runs across seven innings (6.43 ERA) with 13 strikeouts in three starts in the MLB Draft League and gave up six runs across four innings with four strikeouts in three relief appearances in the Cape Cod League.
The Cubs certainly took a bit of a gamble on Meyer, but it could pay off assuming the West Virginia right-hander signs with the team. Meyer could forgo his college eligibility to sign with Chicago. He transferred to Arizona State in late June.
