Chicago Cubs: Examining the best draft picks of the decade

The dawn of a new year and decade is upon us. The Chicago Cubs enjoyed a mostly successful 10 years and were led by some fantastic young superstars. Let us look back at the best draft picks in the decade.

Imagining the beginning of a new decade is strange. Time stops for the briefest of moments before the clock begins once again ticking. Ten years is a long time. In the game of baseball, ten years feels like an eternity.

For the Cubs, there were many transitions from where the team began the decade at to where they are now, and what they hope to accomplish moving forward. We started it off with Jim Hendry. We are finishing it with the king, Theo Epstein.

The overall scope of the team has dramatically changed as well, and that couldn’t have been done without the leadership analytically driving the shifting nature of the club. From 2010 to 2019, it is time to dive into Chicago’s top draft selections.

Javier Baez, SS – 2011 Amateur draft, Round 1 Pick 9

Most Cubs fans will agree how much of what went wrong for many years was due to Jim Hendry. While not a single draft went right for Hendry and the Cubs for much of his time in the front office, one selection specifically made all of the other horrific choices bearable. That guy is Javier Baez.

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Coming off yet another down year, the Cubs had the ninth overall pick in the 2011 amateur draft. Fun fact: Baez is a part of the same draft class as Gerrit Cole, Trevor Bauer, Anthony Rendon, and Francisco Lindor. Lindor was selected one spot higher at Baez and most likely would be in a Cubs uniform had the Cleveland Indians not chosen him.

The story is meant to unfold as it will, and that story brought Baez to Chicago. After spending three seasons working his way through the system, Baez made his major league debut in 2014. He was awful, slashing .169/.227/.324 with a 41.5 percent strikeout rate, across 229 plate appearances.

After spending much of the next season at Triple-A Iowa, Baez responded his second time around the Show with a .289/.325/.408 line, and a reduced 30 percent strikeout rate. From 2016 to 2018, Baez significantly improved. The 2018 season was his coming-out party as he smashed 34 home runs with over 100 RBI and 21 stolen bases. Baez posted a 5.3 WAR that year.

As there is not much of anything positive to say about Hendry and his erroneous management, he did get one thing right in drafting Baez, who has quickly become the face of the franchise on the North Side.

Kris Bryant, 3B – 2013 Amateur draft, Round 1 Pick 3

Oh, the ‘what-ifs’ Cubs fans have inevitably faced since the beginning of the 2013 first-year player draft. Chicago carried the number two overall pick, behind only Houston at number one. As the Astros had the pick of the litter, we will always be grateful to know they valued pitching over offense.

Once the Astros selected Mark Appel, a gifted prospect from Stanford University, first overall, it gave Epstein the opportunity for Kris Bryant, which he did not miss. The former San Diego standout worked his way to the big leagues after just two seasons in the minors and was an immediate superstar.

Bryant was named the National League Rookie of the Year in 2015 following a solid .275/.369/.488 performance, 26 home runs, 99 RBI, 13 stolen bases, and a 6.1 WAR. It was the start of something special.

In 2016, Bryant earned National League MVP honors after the then 25-year-old capped off a massive year by slashing .292/.385/.554 with 39 home runs and a 7.9 WAR. Bryant also helped lead the Cubs to their first world championship in 2018, smashing two home runs in the World Series and making the final out in Game 7.

From 2017 until the present day, Bryant has been one of the best in the game. He has slashed .284/.390/.511 with a 137 wRC+, a .227 ISO, and a 12.4 percent walk rate. The rumor mill is hot on Bryant; however, whether he stays or goes, Bryant will always remain one of the best draft picks of this decade.

Kyle Schwarber, C – 2014 Amateur draft, Round 1 Pick 4

Similar to Bryant, Kyle Schwarber slammed his way through the minor leagues, spending just two years in the pipeline before his rise to the Show. Drafted originally as a catcher, Schwarber spent much of his rookie season in left field. He did start 15 games for the Cubs at catcher, but that did not last long thanks to Willson Contreras.

Schwarber experienced immense success in his rookie season. He appeared in 69 games and posted a 131 wRC+ and a 1.8 WAR. As anticipation grew for the young left-handed home run hitter, it all came crashing down as quickly as it had begun.

Two games into the 2016 regular season, Schwarber suffered a torn ACL and LCL in his left knee, effectively ending his season. Miraculously, Schwarber recovered in time for the postseason. He became a World Series hero, slashing .412/.500/.471 in five games, including the base hit in extra innings of game seven, which started the title-clinching inning.

Schwarber gets a horrible rap across baseball. If it’s not his “subpar” fielding, it’s his strikeout rate. All of that is bologna. In each of his last three seasons, Schwarber has improved in some capacity. His strikeout rate has decreased in each subsequent season while he has also found his power stroke once again.

Schwarber smashed 38 home runs in 2019 and could easily aim for the 40 mark in 2020. The defense has also significantly improved. Encapsulating everything makes him one of the best picks of the decade.

Nico Hoerner, SS – 2018 Amateur draft, Round 1 Pick 24

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• Cubs: P.J. Higgins deserves to be in the lineup on a daily basis

The final guy to make the list is a brand new superstar in the making, and that is Nico Hoerner. In desperate need of middle infield help, the Cubs selected the former star at Stanford with the hope he would make an impact sooner rather than later. Boy, did they get that pick right?

Hoerner annihilated the minor league competition making his way to Double-A Tennessee within a season and a half. Epstein and company called Hoerner up at the end of last season, and he did not disappoint.

On the road in San Diego for his debut, Hoerner collected three hits and two RBI in an exciting and highly-anticipated first big league game. While he cooled off shortly after that, Hoerner finished his stint slashing .282/.305/.436 with three home runs and 17 RBI.

Like Contreras, Hoerner stepped into the box at Wrigley for his first home at-bat and did the unthinkable by hammering a ball to dead center field to give the Cubs the lead. A fantastic moment for the now 22-year-old.

Hoerner should break camp with Chicago, and if he does not, he will most certainly be called up at some point early in the season. It is time to move into a new decade of Cubs baseball, and Hoerner should find himself at the helm of beginning something great.