Chicago Cubs go heavy in pitching during the 2016 MLB draft

The 2016 MLB draft is wrapping up, and the Chicago Cubs have made all of their picks.

Even after calling up a number of top prospects in the last couple of years, the Chicago Cubs are still considered to have above average talent in their farm system. This in mind, many did not know what to expect from the Cubs’ draft.

Here’s a quick recap. The Cubs drafted 38 players, 27 of them pitchers. Of those 27, five are southpaws. 20 of their 27 pitchers were drafted out of college, and seven out of high school.

The Cubs also drafted two catchers, three outfielders, and six infielders. The infielders consisted of three shortstops, one first baseman, one second baseman, and one-third baseman.

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Chicago’s first pick in the draft came in the third round, 104th overall. The Cubs took Tom Hatch, a right-handed pitcher out of Oklahoma State. Hatch, who was named this season’s Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, went 7-2 with a 2.16 ERA in his redshirt sophomore season with the Cowboys. Hatch recorded 102 strikeouts in 112 1/3 innings of work this season.

In round four, the Cubs took another right-handed pitcher, Tyson Miller, with pick No. 134.  Miller, a 20-year-old out of California Baptist University, went 9-3 with a 2.27 ERA in his junior season with the Lancers. Miller threw 92 strikeouts over the course of 107 innings.

Neither pitcher is expected to make early big league appearances in the bullpen, but look for both to work their way into the rotation at some point within the next five to seven years.

So, why all the pitchers?

With the best rotation in the majors by a wide margin, you might feel compelled to believe that the Cubs are sitting pretty with pitchers. For the time being, yes, they are.

But the MLB draft is different from the likes of the NFL and NBA. In baseball you don’t draft to make an immediate impact; you draft to prepare for the future.

In many cases, it can take players half a decade or more to break into the Show. The Cubs’ rotation is stellar, but five to ten years from now it won’t look anything like it does now.

The average age of the Cubs’ rotation is 31.6, with Kyle Hendricks being the only one under 30.

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John Lackey, 37, has been phenomenal but it’s rare that you should see such success at that age. You can’t expect that from the rest of them. Add to the fact that 2017 could very well be Jake Arrieta‘s last as a Cub and all of a sudden you’ve come to a bump in the road.

These guys are great, but they’re no spring chickens. The time is now to address issues that will rear their heads down the road.

With the Cubs’ infield being so young, it makes sense that they didn’t take an awful lot of them in the draft. They should be solid in that department for several years to come.

It’s hard to get too excited about the MLB draft when it takes players so long to break through, but a time will come when fans anxiously await some of these new names to be called.