Chicago Cubs: Three Arizona League prospects fans should come to know

Chicago Cubs: Ervis Marchan, 1B, Age – 20

Continuing to keep it in the infield, the next guy on this list may turn into the heir apparent to the throne of Anthony Rizzo. Okay, maybe that’s a bit much, but dreams do come true. Ervis Marchan joined the organization back in 2017 and has improved his game in every sense.

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Spending his first two seasons in the DSL, Marchan rode the struggle bus hard in his first year of professional baseball. He managed to slash a balmy .184/.247/.237 with just a 44 wRC+ in 86 plate appearances.

It did not deter him from improvement. However, the left-handed-hitting first baseman rebounded in a significant way. In 2018, this time with a more sizable sample size of 283 plate appearances, Marchan slashed .275/.355/.377, swiping 16 bags and finishing with a 113 wRC+.

He got even better this last year, slashing .333/.391/.419 in 116 plate appearances in the AZL. His wRC+ climbed to 126, and Marchan managed to strike out at just a 12.1 percent rate. Similar in size to Bautista, Marchan doesn’t possess the same power as Bautista but can get on base at a high rate and sees the ball relatively well.

What is most impressive, too, is Marchan’s ability to drive the ball to all parts of the field as he registered a 37.4 percent Oppo%, per Fangraphs. Marchan still has a long way to go, but he continues to improve on a season-to-season basis, and that is exciting for the future of the Cubs. Marchan does become Rule 5 eligible in December of 2021, so it will be interesting to see where Marchan is at in his development. Hopefully, it’s all systems go for Marchan.