Former Cubs and current Phillies pitcher Jake Arrieta shared memories from the Cubs rebuilding years up to winning the 2016 World Series on Off The Mound with Ryan Dempster. 

Arrieta was drafted by the Orioles in 2008 and spent four seasons with the club. He was later traded to the Cubs in 2013 where the North Siders were in a current rebuild under Theo Epstein. 

“The Cubs organization was working on that process for years to come. It started to turn when I got there in ‘13 and ‘14. We weren’t great but we were getting better. I started to really develop and come into my own,” Arrieta said. “We had all these amazing prospects and I was like ‘Wow we have all these guys coming up?’ Then we continue to have these amazing draft picks.”

During Arrieta’s four seasons on the Cubs, players such as Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Kyle Schwarber and Addison Russell were called up to help the club reach the postseason in 2015 and win the World Series in 2016. Arrieta praised Theo Epstein for the players he drafted during that span. 

“Kudos to Theo and the rest of the guys for drafting these amazing players that ended up coming in 2014 and 2015, helping us get to the postseason and ultimately winning the World Series in 2016 and making a deep run in 2017,” Arrieta said.