CHICAGO -- Without a first- or second-round pick in the 2016 major league amateur draft, which begins on Thursday evening, the Chicago Cubs' front office will have a night off before making its first pick in the third round on Friday. It might be an order-in pizza kind of evening on Thursday in the bowels of the new clubhouse, which will serve as the team’s war room -- starting with pick No. 104.

“This year we might be sitting there in shorts and flip-flops pulling names off the board,” said Jason McLeod, the club's senior vice president, player development and amateur scouting. “It’s going to give us an opportunity to spend the whole evening preparing for the next day.”

The Cubs lost their top two picks by signing Jason Heyward and John Lackey last offseason. The St. Louis Cardinals got compensatory picks for losing them, but the Cubs got two good players who have contributed to the team’s tremendous start to the season. Now the challenge for McLeod and his staff is to find the next round of young stars, but only after 103 players have been taken first.

“There is going to be a No. 1 or No. 2 starter coming out of from where we pick to the 10th round,” McLeod insisted. “Those guys are there.”

McLeod cited former ninth-round pick Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets as an example of an arm that made it from a later round. Why the focus on arms? It may come as a surprise, but the Cubs under the current front office have yet to draft a pitcher who has thrown even one pitch for them, let alone start or close a game.

“It’s something that keeps us up at night,” McLeod stated bluntly. “We know it. We’re more than aware of it.

“We haven’t taken a pitcher in the first round. That hamstrings us somewhat. When you look at major league rotations of the drafted players, almost half of them come out of the first round. That’s not excuse-making. We have to be better identifying. We have to be better developing these guys.”

McLeod makes a good point about the team drafting hitters such as Albert Almora, Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber and Ian Happ in the first round over the past four drafts, plus they did help develop Kyle Hendricks after he was acquired in a trade. In fact, he spent more time in the minor leagues with the Cubs than he did with the team that drafted him, the Texas Rangers. It’s little consolation for McLeod.

“We’re not happy where we are with the pitching and we expect to be better,” McLeod said. “We have to go out and find who they are and develop them correctly.”

Coming out of spring training the feeling was righties Ryan Williams (2014 draft) and Pierce Johnson (2012) were closest to throwing a pitch for the big league club this season, but both faltered out of the gate while the Cubs rotation has been fantastic. Williams has come around, but he’s blocked right now.

“We feel good, but we also know we have to do better,” McLeod stated.

McLeod recalls taking Boston Red Sox leader Dustin Pedroia with the 65th pick -- the lowest he’s ever chosen a team's first pick until now.

“I’ve seen more players this spring than the last four years being here,” McLeod said. “Normally I’d see the same guys over and over. This year we were spread out and saw as many players as we could.

“We all feel the challenge so there are those pitchers the major league team can go get [from the minors].”