NEWSLETTER
Today, rosters for the 2018 Arizona Fall League – the prospect-laden postseason league – were released, and the following Chicago Cubs prospects will be on the Mesa Solar Sox: P.J. Higgins (C), Trent Giambrone (IF), Nico Hoerner (IF), D.J. Wilson (OF).
In addition, the South Bend Cubs Manager, Jimmy Gonzalez, will be one of the team’s two hitting coaches. Sweet.
The Cubs group is a combination of top prospects, some older/near-MLB ready types, and some lower level guys, but each will get a chance to either test their mettle against some of the best prospects in baseball and/or make up for some lost time this season. Sometimes both!
As is the case for Nico Hoerner.
If you recall, the Cubs top pick in the most recent draft, Hoerner, got off to a roaring start this season, reaching the South Bend Cubs and earning his place as the third best Cubs prospect on BN’s Mid-Season Top 40. Unfortunately, his season came to an abrupt end in the middle of July thanks to an elbow injury he earned on a diving play. Now, he’ll get a chance to make up for some of that lost time while playing against, truly, some of baseball’s best and most-MLB-ready prospects (and it certainly doesn’t hurt that his manager from South Bend, Jimmy Gonzalez, will be there to keep an extra special eye on him).
And that’s really the best part about the AFL – it pits some of the best prospects in the game against each other, many of whom are on the doorstep of the Majors, while allowing some other guys to make a missed season hurt a whole lot less.
I’ll leave a deeper dive on why each of these prospects are headed to the AFL and what they’ll work on once they’re there for Luke. But for now, I just wanted to get the news in front of you.
