Chicago Cubs: Comparing the Cubs and White Sox rebuilds

Cubs draft picks

One thing that both rebuilds had in common was the practice of losing for the art of winning. Both teams sacrificed the major league talent in order to stockpile as many high draft picks as possible. Ironically, Cubs manager Joe Maddon’s slogan of “Try not to suck” was a complete turnaround from the club’s philosophy for a few years while the team rebuilt.

Let’s look at the Cubs draft picks throughout their rebuild.

Javier Baez (2011 first round, ninth overall)

Despite being drafted by former general manager Jim Hendry in 2011, we’ll include Javier Baez in this analysis for fairly obvious reasons. Although he was drafted prior to the arrival of Theo Epstein and the official rebuild, Baez has played an enormous role in the Cubs recent success.

Albert Almora (2012 first round, sixth overall)

Although he only played in 47 games during the Cubs championship season in 2016, Albert Almora has been a key part of the Cubs success, including scoring the go-ahead run in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.

Kris Bryant (2013 first round, third overall)

Much like Baez, Bryant was household name even before he set foot in Wrigley Field. He went from being the college baseball player of the year, to the minor league player of the year to National League Rookie of the Year and the NL MVP in four consecutive seasons, an unheard of feat.

Kyle Schwarber (2014 first round, fourth overall)

Originally drafted as a catcher out of Indiana University, it quickly became clear that Schwarber was not meant to behind the plate. Now a full-time outfielder, Schwarber missed virtually the entire 2016 regular season after tearing his ACL in the first week of the season. He was able to rehab and return to play a key role in the Cubs World Series run.