At the end of last year – December 7, to be exact – John Sickels (via Minor League Ball) created his pre-season Top 20 Prospects for the Chicago Cubs. This week, he revisited that same list, not to revise or update it, but to review it and provide updated commentary on the status of the players therein.
Like many Cubs prospect lists from before the start of the 2015 season (speaking of, hope you enjoyed Luke’s updated Top 40), most of the players at the top have found their way to the majors and several others have made significant strides – in different directions – warranting an updated look.
Each player, from one to twenty, comes in for a few short sentences, providing the “cliff notes” on some of the Cubs best young players. After that, Sickels writes a brief commentary on the overall status of the system, finishing with the line, “Overall, a great time to be a Cubs fan.”
I don’t want to dive too deeply into any one of the reviews, but I will say that there is a LOT of promising and encouraging information. Notably, Sickels believes that Kris Bryant, Addison Russell and Jorge Soler have just begun to scratch the surface, that Kyle Schwarber is far better than expected (and might be able to sustain something great), that Willson Contreras and Chesny Young are not to be overlooked, and that the Cubs have plenty of major league quality pitching prospects (Pierce Johnson, Duane Underwood, Dylan Cease, Justin Steele, Jeremy Null, Ryan Williams) to keep an eye on.
Check it out. It is a great read and an easy way to catch up on the Cubs youth movement that all your hip friends keep going on about.