Much of the offseason prospect rankings season will come next month and beyond (the pre-2023 lists), but FanGraphs this week offers up an early look at where things will stand on the top 100 front for the Cubs. And where things stand is: quite good!
Eric Longenhagen wrote at FanGraphs about a final 2022 update to his top 100 prospects list, which is available here. There will be more reworking for the pre-2023 period, but this is a great checkpoint in time, even if only from one service, and even if only for the top prospects.
The Cubs prospects who show up in the top 100:
34. Pete Crow-Armstrong
38. Brennen Davis
54. Kevin Alcántara
57. Cristian Hernández
91. James Triantos
100. Owen Caissie
Lotta instant reactions:
A list that hasn’t given up on Brennen Davis but does have PCA ahead of Davis now. Seems all the more a compliment to PCA.
Six in the top 100 is excellent, but still none in the top 30 is a reminder of where the imbalance is for the Cubs right now. Tons and tons of quality depth. Not a lot of upper-level, clearly-expected impact.
Nice to see Triantos and Caissie getting some love after seasons that were really quite strong when you consider the age/level/ballpark context.
No pitchers in the group, and it looks like Hayden Wesneski might not have gotten a full re-rank (he still shows up as a 40+, below Cubs prospects like Ed Howard, Caleb Kilian, and Miguel Amaya. In other words, for guys who weren’t going to get a huge boost into the top 100, I don’t think they were touched at all. I could make an argument that Wesneski and Alexander Canario (maybe even Matt Mervis, who is currently just a 35+) should’ve gotten top 100 consideration, but I’m stretching a bit. I have no beef with none of them making the list, though I think Wesneski’s showing in the big leagues makes it pretty hard to argue he’s not pretty darn close to top 100 status.
You no doubt are surprised by the Hernández ranking, which was an INCREASE for him. He was not on the top 100 coming into the season. It’s a surprising bump after an ACL season that saw Hernández hit a meh .261/.320/.357/88 wRC+ with a 30.3% strikeout rate. That said, you care a lot more about the scouting on a guy like Hernández, who is only 18 and who was making his stateside debut. Apparently the scouting must’ve been quite strong (easy to believe if you ever watch Hernández play – he just LOOKS like a future star). Keep in mind, Longenhagen is in Arizona and is at the back fields a whole lot. I would think he has probably seen and discussed Hernández a great deal, so this aggressive ranking seems like a pretty big tip of the cap.