Chicago Cubs: Best players drafted 16th overall
By Ryan Sikes
In next month’s draft, the Chicago Cubs hold the 16th overall pick. Let’s look at several successful players taken at the same slot.
On June 10, the Chicago Cubs will begin a three-day journey of adding the next wave of prospects to a farm system that has been depleted by players graduating to the big leagues or being traded away for assets. Various media outlets have recently ranked the Cubs’ farm system near the bottom of the league.
While they have promising stars in the likes of Brailyn Marquez, Brennen Davis, and Miguel Amaya, they have no prospects ranked within the Top 50, according to MLB Pipeline. Per recent mock drafts, the Cubs have been linked to several top high school prep stars with the 16th overall pick.
Pitching would seem to make the most sense, given the lack of talent in the farm and the impending free agency of 60 percent of their rotation. Regardless if there’s a season in 2020, the Cubs will be losing Jon Lester, Jose Quintana, and Tyler Chatwood, leaving just Kyle Hendricks and Yu Darvish.
Last year, the Cubs went heavy on pitching in the draft, taking Fresno State’s Ryan Jensen with the first-round pick, but he’s likely to make his big league debut either next year or in 2022, depending on how things play out with the coronavirus pandemic. Jensen could be an intriguing player to add to expanded rosters, but he’s unlikely to have any meaningful innings in 2020.
So as the north siders continue to do their due diligence on draft prospects, we look back on several players that have also been selected with the 16th overall pick.