I don’t think I would’ve expected any Chicago Cubs rookies to break out this year in a significant way, even if you had asked me back in March. By and large, the best prospects in the Cubs’ system were all at least a year away, and the only rookie who projected to get much run, Nico Hoerner, was expected by a lot of us to go through some serious struggles.
Hoerner did, indeed, struggle in this weird year that didn’t even give the Cubs the option of sending him to AAA to work on things. On the season, Hoerner is hitting just .228/.310/.267 with a 63 wRC+, but I’m not especially discouraged about his future – the big leagues this year exposed the very things we already knew he needed to work on, and hopefully he’ll have actual minor leagues available next year to work on them. Maybe he and we will be lucky, and having to be “exposed” a bit this year will actually help him through that adjustment process next year.
In any case, Hoerner, nor any other Cubs rookie, put together a great season, so it’s no surprise that when MLB Pipeline announced its very full first and second all-rookie teams, not a single Cub was included among the 30 names:
Here is our 2020 All-Rookie Team: https://t.co/6zR1ESsuTu pic.twitter.com/yQcyhM19Lc
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) September 23, 2020
On the year, there weren’t a lot of NL Central prospects breaking out. Only Pirates infielder Ke’Bryan Hayes, Brewers reliever Devin Williams, and Cardinals imported starter Kwang Hyun Kim come in for recognition. Really light on breakout youngsters this year for the entire division.
Here’s hoping next year the Cubs see huge steps taken forward across the farm system, and maybe even get a breakout rookie or two. If the roster is mostly running back in 2021, it might take another year, but by 2022, the Cubs are kinda gonna NEED a bunch of young players to really establish themselves.