NEWSLETTER
End-of-season prospect lists and awards are always fun, but they’re just a touch more fun this year if you’re a Chicago Cubs fan. The system is just so deep that there are loads of prospects to consider – I mean, there can actually be snubs this year!
MiLB.com came up with its organizational All-Stars for the Cubs, and there are some really obvious ones, but also some big surprises:
Shocker: Matt Mervis gets the nod at first base, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Alexander Canario are among the outfielders, and Luis Devers is the right-handed starter. Like I said, some of the choices are not a surprise at all.
But there were definitely some surprises.
For example, at catcher, you would’ve assumed the nod would go to Moises Ballesteros, who blew up from the ACL to Low-A at just 18 years old, but it wasn’t him. Maybe Ethan Hearn, whose glovework is outstanding and whose bat finally started to turn it on in the second half? Nope. We know it can’t be Miguel Amaya, who played only briefly after Tommy John surgery and before Lisfranc surgery, because he didn’t catch this year at all. So who is it?
Newly-signed international bonus baby Adan Sanchez. Making his DSL debut this summer after having just turned 17, Sanchez hit .328/.451/.389/141 wRC+ over 47 games (walk and strikeout rates both in the mid-teens), and the MiLB.com piece suggests he held his own behind the plate. It was a fantastic professional debut, and I won’t even fight about him getting the All-Star nod over Ballesteros. I will caution, in terms of prospect evaluation, that you can tell only so much from DSL stats, because sometimes a hitter is just too polished for the pitchers there, and he can easily take advantage of the wildness (big walk rates at the lowest levels, I’ve come to learn, don’t always tell you as much as they would in High-A and up). So I’ll be a little patient to see if Sanchez comes over for stateside ball next year, where he’d be among the youngest players in the ACL.
In the outfield, you knew two of the spots HAD TO go to PCA and Canario, but that third spot really could’ve been any of Darius Hill, Yonathan Perlaza, Jordan Nwogu, Ezequiel Pagan, or Kevin Alcántara. It was Hill, 25, who got the nod, and fairly so: even if there are questions about whether he hits for enough power to play a corner outfield spot at the big league level (or whether his production was a little too high-contact-pure-BABIP-heavy to say for sure it’ll translate), it’s not like the numbers weren’t there for an All-Star nod. Between Double-A and Triple-A, Hill hit .314/.359/.453/115 wRC+. He will be in the mix next year to get call-up fill-in starts at the big league level if a need emerges, especially if he can handle center field passably.
The extremely crowded reliever group probably could’ve produced five names I would’ve agreed with, so I can’t say I have an issue with it being lefty Riley Martin, who put up downright comical numbers at Low-A Myrtle Beach (56.3% K, 8.3% BB, 0.68 ERA) before getting the bump to High-A, where it took him a little time to find his level. The 24-year-old senior sign in the 2021 draft showed enough at High-A for the Cubs to send him to the Arizona Fall League, even though he’s not yet Rule 5 eligible.
Read the MiLB.com piece for the write-ups on each prospect. Here are the All-Stars by position:
RHSP – Luis Devers
LHSP – D.J. Herz
RP – Riley Martin
C – Adan Sanchez
1B – Matt Mervis
2B – Chase Strumpf
3B – Jake Slaughter
SS – Andy Weber
OF – Darius Hill
OF – Pete Crow-Armstrong
OF – Alexander Canario
