Chicago Cubs: Six players ranked in the MLB Top 100 prospects

The Chicago Cubs don’t reign supreme as they have in the past few seasons, but it’s apparent the system is still loaded–even after the mass promotions in ’15 of Bryant, Russell and Schwarber.

You aren’t going to see a Chicago Cubs player on the MLB Twitter homepage to start the season. In fact, you have to scroll down to No. 28 to find the first Cubs’ player on the list is SS Gleyber Torres. Catcher Willson Contreras sits at No. 50–the only other Cub in the top 50. But while they don’t have the same star power as Kris Bryant and Addison Russell gave them, there’s no shortage in potential on the list.

Torres wasn’t even on the list last season and now finds himself as the Cubs’ top rated prospect. After replacing the previous shortstop in Starlin Castro with Russell, now we have to keep an eye on Torres in the coming years. It’s just another extremely talented defender who–if he progresses with the bat–could be a challenge to the Cubs infield in the next few seasons.

We’ve talked at length about Contreras here at Cubbies Crib this offseason. Partly for his talent, the rest for the, let’s call it  the unsure status of the catching corps. With Schwarber still working out behind the plate and in left field, and David Ross in his final season–the question is becoming who the backstop of the future might be. Miguel Montero is an adequate backstop, but he’s in his final years as well and the Cubs will need to establish a plan soon for behind the plate.

The rest of the list includes Ian Happ (No. 76), Duane Underwood (No. 77), Albert Almora (No. 86) and Billy McKinney (No. 88). Almora could make a push to Chicago late in the season, as well as Underwood if the Cubs need bullpen help throughout the season. The rest are at least a year or two away barring something unforeseen, be it good or bad.

Next: The reversalof roles for Baez and Zobrist

One name not on this year’s list is that of Carl (C.J.) Edwards. Last year he opened the list at No. 48 before eventually finishing up the season in Chicago. There’s potential there, but the biggest knock on Edwards has been his size and durability which has been an issue from the start.

The Cubs did indeed call up the bulk of their “top talent”, but they by no means emptied out the cupboard in 2015. There’s plenty more where all that came from.