The Chicago Cubs promoted Kenta Nomoto to scouting director, an internal elevation announced Tuesday as the organization's farm system ranking slid to No. 22 league-wide in Baseball America's midseason update. Nomoto, 34, joined the club in 2019 as a Pacific Rim scout and most recently served as international crosschecker. He replaces Dan Kantrovitz, who left for the Pittsburgh front office in November.
The hire is unusual in two ways. First, Nomoto has never held a coordinator role in amateur or pro scouting at any level, a departure from the credential-stacking norm across MLB front offices. Second, the Cubs are betting heavily on access—Nomoto's fluency in Japanese and Korean, plus a Rolodex built across NPB and KBO front offices, positions Chicago to bypass the bidding wars that defined recent winters. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer told reporters the hire reflects "where talent is moving, not where it used to be."
The timing matters. Chicago's farm system ranked No. 6 as recently as 2022, buoyed by outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and shortstop Kevin Alcántara. Both players have since graduated or stalled, and the 2023 draft class—headlined by Cam Smith at pick No. 14—has yet to produce a consensus top-100 prospect. The organization's international spending has been modest: just $4.2 million in the 2024-25 signing period, ninth in the National League. Nomoto inherits a department that hasn't signed a seven-figure international amateur since Cristian Hernández in 2021, who was released last April.
The Pacific Rim angle is not theoretical. The Cubs have been in serious discussions with NPB clubs about posting windows for two mid-rotation righties, per executives with knowledge of the talks. One source described Nomoto's hire as "clearing the phone tree"—the kind of relationship equity that turns a three-team bidding war into a two-team negotiation. Chicago also remains active in the KBO, where they've scouted six different position players over the past 14 months, none of whom have been publicly linked to the organization. That silence is intentional.
Hoyer's front office has now cycled through three scouting directors in five years. Kantrovitz lasted two seasons. His predecessor, Matt Dorey, departed for the Diamondbacks after 18 months. The churn reflects broader organizational uncertainty: the Cubs have made the playoffs once since 2020, payroll sits at $222 million (10th in MLB), and ownership has approved zero nine-figure contracts since the Seiya Suzuki deal in March 2022. The farm system decline is a lagging indicator of that strategic ambiguity.
Nomoto's first test arrives quickly. The 2025 draft is seven weeks away, and the Cubs hold the No. 11 overall pick after an 81-81 finish. Chicago has missed on first-rounders before—Brennen Davis, selected 62nd in 2018, has played 29 games above High-A due to back injuries—but the current talent gap is acute. The organization ranks 28th in Baseball Prospectus's farm system value model, ahead of only the Rockies and Marlins. Fixing that requires either drafting better or spending internationally, and Nomoto's hire signals the latter.
The move also clarifies succession planning. Assistant general manager Ehsan Bokhari was considered the internal favorite for the role, but Hoyer chose the scout with the sharper network. Bokhari remains with the club, though his contract expires in October. One rival executive noted that Nomoto's promotion "tells you Jed thinks the next Shohei Ohtani is in Osaka, not Oxford, Mississippi." The numbers support that belief: 43% of the top 100 prospects signed internationally in 2024 came from Japan, Korea, or Taiwan, up from 31% in 2020.
Chicago's international scouting budget for 2025-26 has not been finalized, but two people familiar with ownership discussions expect a modest increase to the $5 million range, still well below the Dodgers ($8.1 million) or Padres ($7.4 million). The Cubs also face roster pressure: Cody Bellinger can opt out after 2025, Dansby Swanson is owed $25 million annually through 2029, and the rotation has one pitcher under club control past 2026. The farm system was supposed to provide cost-controlled depth. Instead, it provides questions.
Nomoto's first amateur draft as director will be analyzed not for consensus picks but for Korean prep arms and Japanese collegiate hitters—the kinds of names that don't populate mock drafts but do populate October rosters three years later. His success depends less on scouting acumen than on ownership's willingness to fund it. The Cubs have the infrastructure. They've chosen not to use it at scale. That decision now belongs to a 34-year-old scout whose last title was crosschecker.
Chicago opens a three-game series in Milwaukee on Friday. The farm system ranking won't change before October.
The takeaway
Cubs bet on Pacific Rim access over pedigree as farm system drops to No. 22; international budget remains modest despite hire.
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