Theo Epstein Predicted The Future In 2014

He was off by a few years, but we'll give it to him. 

The Cubs selected Ed Howard, a high school shortstop out of Mount Carmel HS, with the first pick of the 2020 MLB Draft.

By all accounts, it was a great pick.

It really sounds like Cub fans should be excited to the hometown kid to eventually play at Wrigley one day.

But you have to rewind 6 years to go back to when Cubs president Theo Epstein first laid eyes on him.

Howard was a star player on the Jackie Robinson West Little League team that advanced to the Little League World Series Finals in 2014 and inspired a city.

It was during the homecoming celebration that Theo addressed the team and told them he looked forward to drafting them in the year 2023. Theo assumed that he would be drafting them out of college. Ed Howard doesn't need college, he's ready for professional baseball now.

I personally can't wait to see Howard develop over the next few years. That is of course assuming we'll be playing baseball sometime during the next 24 months which seems a bit up in the air right now. We'll stay tuned.