The Cubs continued to stockpile pitching to kick off the 2022 MLB Draft Sunday night, adding left-handed pitcher Jackson Ferris with their 2nd round selection.

He was the 47th overall pick in the draft and was recommended by Cubs area scout Tom Clark.

Ferris, who turned 18 in January, was 8-0 with a 1.33 ERA in 10 games while striking out 103 hitters against only 15 walks in 54.1 innings during his season season at IMG Academy in Florida.

He is listed at 6-foot-4, 195 pounds and was ranked 19th among overall draft prospects by MLB.com.

He is committed to Ole Miss and hit 94-95 mph on the radar gun at last summer’s Perfect Game USA National Showcase:

2 innings
6 strikeouts

Jackson Ferris, who might be the top left-handed pitching prospect in the 2022 #MLBDraft class, was absolutely dealing in the @PerfectGameUSA National Showcase. pic.twitter.com/vGdWL3orYn

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) July 16, 2021

The Cubs add Ferris to 1st-round pick Cade Horton as a pair of young pitchers the team hopes to sign and get into the farm system.

The two picks should be viewed together in the sense that this is how the Cubs drew it up in their predraft gameplan. The organization hopes to save some money with a below-slot deal for Horton and apply those savings to help sign Ferris away from his college commitment. 

“This morning when we sat down with Jed [Hoyer] and Carter [Hawkins] and kinda mapped out what in our minds would be an ideal road map for how the draft would unfold, the first round, Cade was our prime target,” Cubs VP of scouting Dan Kantrovitz said. “Then in the 2nd round, it’s hard to have visibility so you don’t really put too much stock in it, but Jackson was the No. 1 target there as well, thinking that we’d have a little bit of money potentially to spread around. It ended up coming to fruition.

“I think when you get two arms like that — a high-ceiling, high school lefty that already has probably 3-4 pitches right now that work and somebody with an electric heater and a wipeout slider like Cade has, those are attributes that our pitching development infrastructure can’t wait to get their hands on.”

The Cubs are familiar with Ferris’ school after drafting left-handed pitcher Drew Gray out of IMG Academy in the 3rd round last season.

The MLB Draft continues Monday with Rounds 3-10 and will conclude Tuesday with the final 10 rounds.