Instructing You About the Cubs Instructional League – First Looks, Position Changes, Breakouts, More

Instructional League games are about set to go in Arizona, as the couple dozen minor leaguers that Brett highlighted the other day prepare to take the field for the first time in more than a year. I wanted to add some color to Brett’s post and give a handful of thoughts that jumped out to me when I read who the Cubs selected to represent the organization in this new kind of fall league.

While I doubt we’ll get significant information from Arizona – and certainly nothing fun like box scores or video – I’ll be working any possible back channels to find out who looks different and who looks better. Today’s thoughts are probably a good proxy for the things I’ll be asking about first.

We got a couple first-timers here.

Whether it’s the 2020 draftees, the undrafted free agents, or the International Free Agents that have yet to play stateside, the most intriguing part of the roster for me are the guys most of us have never seen play with a Cubs jersey on.

There are two headliners: Ed Howard and Ronnier Quintero. We’ve talked extensively about the first-round shortstop previously, but the Instructional League will offer Howard his most robust competition in 15 months. I can tell you with direct knowledge, the Cubs are very anxious to see how the muscle that Howard has gained since they last saw him play meaningful games will translate to his offensive output.

Quintero, the Cubs prized jewel of the 2019-2020 IFA class, is who I am most excited to hear about. If you made the short list of not-yet top 10 prospects who could be the system’s number one dude inside of 18 months, Quintero leads the way. While there will be some question if Quintero will stick at catcher long-term, there’s equal excitement about how that powerful swing will play.

The next tier below those two are 2020 draftees like Luke Little, Koen Moreno, and Jordan Nwogu as well as expensive IFA signees Kevin Made and Yohendrick Pinango. How hard is Little throwing outside of a gym against real competition? Is Moreno so raw that you wait until 2022 for Low-A, or can he make the jump next year? Will Nwogu and Pinango (outfielders) help replenish the weakest part of this farm system? And could Made be the best of all of them?

After that group, you get into lesser known commodities like undrafted free agents Scott Kobos, Ben Leeper, Bailey Reid, Matt Mervis, and Jacob Wetzel. And I can make the case for intrigue in international signings like Felix Stevens and Pablo Aliendo.

Boy is the shortstop position stacked.

There are seven guys on the Instructs roster that would like to call shortstop their regular position, and four or five of those are top 30 prospects in the organization. Howard and Made are the guys the Cubs have the most resources invested in, but I know there was real hope in the organization that Luis Verdugo would break out this year, and Andy Weber certainly has the feel of a big leaguer to me. I have to imagine that means Rafael Morel and Fabian Pertuz – intriguing prospects themselves – probably are pushed to other positions in Arizona, and that Christopher Morel will stick to third base (after taking some balls back at shortstop in South Bend).

I made my first run at a 2021 organizational depth chart on Twitter over the weekend, and I’ll tell you, finding Opening Day assignments for all those shortstops is the trickiest task.

There are more people in Arizona than on the “official” roster.

Brett mentioned this in his post, but I wanted to confirm that there are at least a handful more pitchers I know about that are in Arizona but not on the roster. For now, those pitchers are slated to throw side bullpens and work on pitch design with the Cubs pitching development team. Whether or not those players eventually replace others on the roster and participate in games, I’m not sure.

Behind the scenes, the Cubs have kept up with their minor leaguers since the Spring Training shutdown via their “Ivy” app, tracking throwing and lifting schedules and offering advice where appropriate. For some of the guys who have been really active to get their innings in, the Cubs are more concerned about managing their workload, and happy to keep them merely throwing bullpens. For others with less accessibility to good mounds, or guys with significant inning projections in 2021, getting in-game reps this month was more important. This was what the Cubs balanced when they specifically picked what pitchers would make up the roster.

Let’s keep an eye on position changes.

The Cubs gave us some hints that a few different position players are planned to be tried out in new spots, and I wanted to highlight those.

Behind the plate, the Cubs seem committed to their experiments in converting Cam Balego and Bryce Windham to catcher.

Balego is someone I’ve talked about before, that had a really nice under-the-radar 125 wRC+ season in High-A in 2019. The caveat is he was old for the level, 24, and by the time games resume next spring, he will be in his age 26 season. The Cubs are smart to try everything they can to squeeze big league utility out of Balego while they can.

Windham is a different animal. Unlike most catcher conversions, he’s not a guy with limited athleticism or a stocky frame. Windham is an athlete first and foremost, a skinny guy whose biggest question will be whether he can hit for power. Where Balego likely ends up at a corner if the switch to catcher doesn’t pan out, Windham likely will go back to second base. Both have good strike zone judgment

The other two position conversions I spot are happening in the outfield. After 2018 a few of us farm-obsessed Cubs fans were excited about the hit tool that Jared Young had shown. Then he was assigned to be the Tennessee first baseman, and hit the Double-A wall in a very, very big way. Young still has one of the prettiest swings in the system, and there are those that still believe in a Chris Coghlan-like ceiling for him. Now, like Coghlan in his later years, Young will try to work it as an outfielder.

Last, you have Yonathan Perlaza, a former bonus baby whose lower half outgrew the middle infield. Perlaza wasn’t great defensively at third base last year, but still has enough potential with both his hit and raw power tools that you’d like to find him some AB’s. In this organization, it’s much easier to find playing time in the outfield than the infield.

Will the dudes that hinted at a breakout follow through?

What we really want to know, more than anything else, is who has jumped up a level. Every year in the minors, you have the guys that jump into the top 10 prospect list (and vice versa). This year, I would have bet that guys like Ethan Hearn, Richard Gallardo, and Luis Verdugo might accomplish that feat. Chase Strumpf and Cole Roederer are two guys at the back-end of my top 10 that could have jumped five or so spots with good summers.

Will we see jumps after Instructional League? Here’s hoping.

This is what the minor leagues are all about, and I’m excited to have them back, even in this weird format. Bring me the breakouts. Or at least rumors about breakouts.

written by

Bryan Smith is a Minor League Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @cubprospects.

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