Rounding out the prospect rankings season, the bulk of the team organizational rankings are in, and, no surprise, the Chicago Cubs are cleaning up. Outside of one stray model, the Cubs came in with the top farm system to everyone who attempted to rank such things, including Baseball America and Minor League Ball, each of whom released their rankings this week.
To Baseball America, the Cubs are just ahead of the Red Sox and Dodgers, while Minor League Ball places the Cubs ahead of the Red Sox and Twins. The discussions involved aren’t too deep, but, then, you wouldn’t expect it to be when it comes to these rankings. The Cubs are a universal number one for a reason: they feature the best collection of high-impact, elite bats in baseball, and they also are among the deeper systems in the league.
Small bonus: outfielder Kevonte Mitchell was picked by BA as the organization’s “high-ceiling sleeper” to watch.
It’s going to be very interesting to see how this season plays out for the Cubs’ farm system. We know that, come the offseason, Jorge Soler and Kris Bryant will have graduated, and Addison Russell is a strong possibility, too. The Cubs have so many guys who could emerge as top 100 types in the coming months, but that’s true of most organizations. Do the Cubs have more than most? I think the answer is yes, but we’ll have to see. I think that will be the most compelling storyline for the farm system in 2015: which high-ceiling prospects actually step forward and emerge as big-time national prospects – not just guys we talk about around here.