NEWSLETTER
I have REALLY been waiting for this one: it’s the updated, midseason Baseball America top 30 Cubs prospects list. With the lack of a 2020 season, and then the developments in the early season, and then the draft, and then the TRADES, I really wanted to know how BA would rank the Cubs’ top prospects. And I REALLY wanted to read the updated scouting reports.
So, first advice is to head over to BA so you can read up on the Cubs prospects, new and old, to get a sense of how BA is scouting them, and why some of the standbys have climbed or fallen.
Against that backdrop, among the things you’ll immediately notice is how far ahead Pete Crow-Armstrong is in the rankings than any other prospect the Cubs received at the deadline, and indeed comes in a few spots ahead of the team’s number one pick this year, Jordan Wicks. Clearly, BA is a fan of PCA.
Of course, the flip side of that is that the rest of the Cubs’ prospect additions this trade season fall into that lengthy, somewhat indistinguishable middle group of prospects. Greg Deichmann, who is coming up to the Cubs today, is the second-ranked prospect from that group (11th overall), with Alexander Canario a few spots behind him. I’m surprised, as I think most services will have Canario as the better prospect, but that whole area of the rankings is going to REALLY be a dealer’s choice.
Interestingly, Kevin Alcantara and Owen Caissie, two hulking 19-year-old outfield bats in complex ball are down in the 19-23 range, whereas I think there are going to be other services that have them tickling top 100 overall status by the end of the year. It’s obviously really difficult scouting/ranking/projecting teenage players at that level, so there will be a ton of variance. Meanwhile, Yohendrick Pinango is getting a ton of love, which I’m happy to see, because the young man just hits.
On the pitching side, while the depth is still there in spades (when Justin Steele is your 4th ranked lefty pitching prospect down at number 20 overall, that means you are DEEP), it’s definitely concerning that the top-ranked righty pitching prospect is Keegan Thompson all the way down at number 12. The fact that so many guys had slow or no starts to this point on the season is a problem. I have a whole lot of confidence that the Cubs will keep pumping out great relief arms in the near-term, but the Cubs pretty much NEED Thompson and Steele to be hits in the rotation AND need to make savvy/strong additions in the offseason to have a remotely competitive rotation in 2022.
See the full writeup with scouting reports here, as well as a ton of rising/falling guys not otherwise on the list, injury updates, etc. It’s a ton to take in.
The list:
1. Brennen Davis, OF, 21
2. Brailyn Marquez, LHP, 22
3. Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF, 19
4. Cristian Hernandez, SS, 17
5. Miguel Amaya, C, 22
6. Jordan Wicks, LHP, 21
7. Reggie Preciado, SS, 18
8. Yohendrick Pinango, OF, 19
9. Ed Howard, SS, 19
10. D.J. Herz, LHP, 20
11. Greg Deichmann, OF, 26
12. Keegan Thompson, RHP, 26
13. Kevin Made, SS, 18
14. Alexander Canario, OF, 21
15. Kohl Franklin, RHP, 21
16. Chase Strumpf, 2B, 23
17. Ryan Jensen, RHP, 23
18. Alexander Vizcaino, RHP, 24
19. Kevin Alcantara, SS, 19
20. Justin Steele, LHP, 26
21. Christopher Morel, UTL, 22
22. Riley Thompson, RHP, 25
23. Owen Caissie, OF, 19
24. Nelson Velazquez, OF, 22
25. Cory Abbott, RHP, 25
26. James Triantos, 3B, 18
27. Caleb Kilian, RHP, 24
28. Max Bain, RHP, 23
29. Ben Leeper, RHP, 24
30. Manny Rodriguez, RHP, 25
