It’s Official: Ed Howard and the Cubs Have Agreed to a Contract

After reports began surfacing early Sunday morning, the Cubs made it official today — first-round draft pick Ed Howard has signed with the club.

This is excellent news as the Cubs add yet another stud shortstop prospect to their system. In the latest episode of Cubs On Tap, caught up with Bryan Smith of Bleacher Nation to discuss the post-draft state of the Cubs farm system, which can be found here and in the embedded player below.

With Howard signed, there is no concern from Cubs’ fans that he was going to head to college and play ball. There is certainly that concern still with fifth-round pick Koen Moreno, so having one prospect locked up is a huge plus.

The other victory for the Cubs with the Howard signing is being able to get him for slot value, which is worth $3.7455 million. With not having to overpay on Howard, they can focus on locking up the remaining four prospects from the draft.