MLB Draft: Chicago Cubs aren’t ‘married’ to an arm heading into Monday

The Chicago Cubs built their foundation on promising position players taken in the MLB Draft. Will they continue that tradition with the 27th overall pick?

Since selecting Kris Bryant with the second overall pick in the 2013 MLB Draft, the Chicago Cubs have selected just one pitcher with a first-round pick. Four of their last five first-rounders have been position players, with Brendon Little serving as the lone exception back in 2017.

That being said, the organization has shifted more of its attention during the June draft from position players to pitching in recent years, a decision that is yet to pay dividends at the Major League level.

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Bryant definitely stands out as Theo Epstein’s best draft pick as the Cubs’ president of baseball operations in terms of success. He won National League Rookie of the Year in 2015, earned NL MVP honors in 2016 and helped guide the team to a World Series championship and slugged 94 long-balls in his first three big league campaigns.

The jury is still out on the two other big-name first-rounders who have a reasonable degree of notoriety among Cubs fans, Kyle Schwarber and Ian Happ. Schwarber obviously attained superstar-level fame given his postseason accolades and unlikely return in the 2016 Fall Classic but hasn’t really lived up to expectations in the years to follow.

Happ, meanwhile, is struggling to find his footing at Triple-A Iowa, leading many to wonder if he has a long-term role with Chicago. Still, these guys have contributed a great deal more than any pitcher drafted in the Epstein era, leading many to wonder what course of action the Cubs will take on Monday.

"“I wouldn’t say we’re going to go in saying it’s got to be a pitcher in the first round,” Jason McLeod told MLB.com. “The way information has changed over the last couple of years, with all the clubs having more pitch data, using a lot more video, using a lot more metrics, certainly it helps. It changes the process of how you’re evaluating players a little bit. But, organizationally, we know that we still, with pitching — it’s still an area of emphasis for us. But, as we approach the Draft, especially in the first round, obviously we’re always going to get the most impact that we can out of that first pick.”"

Last year, Chicago picked Stanford shortstop Nico Hoerner in the first round and followed him up with a pair of outfielders in Brennen Davis and Cole Roederer. Before suffering a wrist injury, Hoerner was torching opposing pitching to the tune of a .300/.391/.500 at age 22. It seems pretty likely the Cubs will take things slow with last year’s top pick as he works his way back, but his promise is already evident.

The 2019 MLB Draft class is a relatively weak one in terms of impact pitching that could fall to the Cubs with the 27th overall pick – but arms are undoubtedly on the mind of Epstein’s brain trust at Clark and Addison.

This year’s rotation features a pair of 35-year-olds in Jon Lester and Cole Hamels. They have just one more year of control over Jose Quintana, who they acquired in a 2017 midseason deal with the rival White Sox. Really, Kyle Hendricks is the only reliable experienced member of the rotation under long-term control, after signing a four-year extension this spring.

We’ll have up-to-the minute coverage of Monday’s MLB Draft – including a full breakdown of who the Chicago Cubs select with the 27th overall pick. Will the team go arm or look for the next generation to build a position player core around? We’ll soon know.