Here’s what the team did as the 2025 Winter Meetings concluded.
The Cubs made news in this year’s Rule 5 Draft by not doing very much at all. This year, I was reasonably certain the Cubs would select someone to add to their major league roster in this annual draft.
They’ve got plenty of room on the 40-man roster, which contains only 31 players right now. They have a need to stockpile relief pitchers. Last week, I wrote this article highlighting several pitchers the Cubs could have used a Rule 5 pick on.
Instead, the Cubs took no one at all in the Major League phase of the Rule 5 Draft. They didn’t lose any players in the Major League phase, either. The only players noted in my article linked above who were taken were Griff McGarry, taken by the Nationals from the Phillies organization, and Peyton Pallette, taken by the Guardians from the White Sox organization.
The Cubs were a lot busier in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 Draft, selecting a player in all three rounds.
First, they selected Adam Stone, a right-handed pitcher from the Yankees organization.
He was an undrafted free agent signed by the Yankees in 2022 out of Harvard. He missed quite a bit of time that year and 2023, and all of 2024, with shoulder injuries and then Tommy John surgery. Here’s more on Stone, who pitched in seven games for the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League this past October and November, so Cubs staff had a good look at him.
Stone is 24 and could be ticketed for Double-A Knoxville in 2025. He’s clearly a project, but as that linked article notes, he was highly regarded before the injuries:
In July 2021, Stone was added to the USA Collegiate National Team roster that featured names like Paul Skenes, Dylan Crews, Brooks Lee and a handful of others who have gone on to become big leaguers.
They also added right-handed pitcher Zane Mills in the Minor League phase, from the Cardinals organization. Mills was the Cardinals’ fourth-round pick in 2021 out of Washington State University. In 119 minor league games (43 starts), Mills has a 4.43 ERA and 1.359 WHIP with 303 strikeouts and 110 walks in 368 innings. He’s 25 and pitched briefly in Triple-A in 2025, spending most of the year in Double-A.
Lastly, they selected Devin Ortiz, a third baseman from the Padres organization. Ortiz is 26 and was signed by San Diego as a non-drafted free agent after a college career at the University of Virginia. In 2025 he hit .242/.325/.317 with six home runs and 19 stolen bases for Double-A San Antonio.
Most likely, these players are organizational depth, but it would appear to me that Stone, at least, will have a chance at a MLB career. As always, we await developments.
The Cubs lost no players in the minor league phase of the draft.
With that, the 2025 MLB Winter Meetings conclude, and now it’s on President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer to make moves that will affect the team’s major league roster for next year.
Category: General Sports
