Ed

Howard

The 16th pick of the 2020 draft suffered the injury while playing for High-A South Bend. He’ll likely miss the rest of the 2022 season, and hopefully for him/the Cubs it won’t derail the 20-year-old’s development.

Howard suffered a major hip injury while playing in a game earlier this month at High-A South Bend. Selected with the 16th overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft out of a high school in Chicago, his development is going to be significantly stunted here in his age-20 campaign.

Patrick Mooney of The Athletic says that Howard will receive a bonus of $3.75 million, which matches the assigned slot value of the No. 16 overall pick. Howard is a local product from Illinois and is a safe bet to remain at shortstop, but it might take a while for the bat to catch up.

If Howard’s name sounds familiar, you might remember him as the star of the Jackie Robinson Little League World Series team back in 2014. He’s a well above-average runner who is a lock to stick at shortstop -- if there is such a thing, anyway -- and he should be able to hit for a high average thanks to his quick, line-drive stroke from the right side. It’s more projection than reality right now, but Howard also has a chance to provide 15-to-20 homer seasons. He doesn’t turn 19 until August, so we likely won’t see him in the majors until 2024, but there’s obvious upside in Howard’s profile with a high floor because of the defense.