NEWSLETTER
MLB.com revealed its top 100 prospects in baseball last night (televised, in fact, in the 10pm ET time slot), and, as expected, the Chicago Cubs fared quite well.
The Cubs prospects that made the cut:
7. Javier Baez
9. Kris Bryant
18. Albert Almora
42. C.J. Edwards
49. Jorge Soler
89. Arismendy Alcantara
100. Pierce Johnson
With 30 teams in baseball, each organization would expect to have 3.333 prospects make the list, if there were an even distribution. The Cubs have more than twice that amount, so there’s no complaining here. That said, outside of the top three, it appears that MLB.com could be a little bit lower on the rest of the Cubs’ prospects than other services will be when their top 100s are released.
Bryant in the top ten is fantastic, and I wonder if he’ll settle into that range on most lists. Baez at seven is fine, though Jason Parks’ recent chatter about Baez having a case to be the top prospect in baseball had me overly optimistic on his ranking.
An example mini scouting report, which MLB.com does for each of the listed players:
[C.J.] Edwards throws his fastball in the low- to mid-90s and can touch 97 mph. He does a good job of keeping his fastball down in the zone and only gave up one home run in 116 1/3 innings in 2013. His best offspeed pitch is his 12-to-6 curveball and his changeup has improved as a professional.
Edwards is skinny and some scouts question his long-term durability as a result. If he can prove that won’t be a problem, his stuff is good enough to make him a frontline starter.
That’s among the highest praise you’ll see for Edwards’ stuff.
The Red Sox had nine prospects in the top 100 (some nice front office lineage there), and the Astros had seven. Based on the location of the prospects, the Astros rate out as the best system in baseball (based solely on the top 100), the Red Sox second, and the Cubs third.
While we’re at it, take note that MLB.com had Albert Almora as the 4th best outfielder in baseball, and Jorge Soler as 11th. You could see that from the list, I suppose, but they’d also been written about separately. Tanaka stuff kinda jacked up the schedule.
