Albert Almora Jr. heard what he wanted to hear when he met with Cubs management during spring training. President of baseball operations Theo Epstein signed off on Almora as the first player drafted by his administration in 2012. Manager Joe Maddon felt comfortable enough to use the rookie in the 10th inning of a World Series Game 7. But the Cubs still hadn’t fully unleashed or empowered Almora, a young player stuck in a crowded outfield with other first-round picks and big-contract veterans.



“I feel like last year I played a little conservative,” Almora said. “It wasn’t me out there. This is what I’ve been doing all my life. We had a conversation this spring. They challenged me to just be myself, be the Albert that they know and they saw growing up and in high school. I said, ‘Consider it done.’ If you’re giving me that leeway of letting me be myself, then I’m going to do that.”



But those individual...