Chicago Cubs: A long fall from the top for heralded prospect

Questions to ponder

The sad and unfortunate thing that is important to realize in instances such as this one is simple. De La Cruz will face a significant backlash along with his 80-game suspension. Additionally, De La Cruz will also lose out on significant developmental time. This will likely slow his ascent to the bigs.

According to reports, De La Cruz could find himself with the opportunity to pitch in the Arizona Fall League, which would be a big positive for him as he can continue to showcase his ability moving into the 2019 campaign.

Additionally, after top overall prospect Adbert Alzolay found out he will miss the remainder of his season with a strained late muscle, De La Cruz had a possible window open to further develop his repertoire in hopes of continuing that progression to the major leagues. With this in mind, the window is indeed closed for the time being.

Expectations moving forward

Oscar De La Cruz should find himself back on a pitchers mound in the future. With this in mind, the prospect of an 80-game suspension certainly is seen as a daunting one, not only for De La Cruz but also for the Cubs organization.

If for whatever reason, De La Cruz is not able to find his way back, it would be a big blow to the Cubs plans within the rotation as he is a name which can be considered as a robust rotational possibility a few years from now.

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Above all, Cubs fans and the team should continue to hold their head up for De La Cruz and his hopeful expected to return to baseball next season. Likewise, he is an particularly talented arm who will most certainly bring a great addition to the clubs future rotational plans. Notwithstanding though, it must be remembered that De La Cruz will have to work that much harder if that dream is to become a reality.