Chicago Cubs: Brennen Davis rockets up MLB top prospect rankings

For those still unaware, MLB Pipeline recently updated its midseason top 100 prospects list. For Chicago Cubs fans, there’s a ton to dig into – most notably, the fact Brennen Davis rocketed 30 spots up the list. Still, Jed Hoyer’s club boast just two top 100 prospects in this set of rankings, down from four when the season started. That will surely alarm some people given the fire sale focused on re-stocking the farm system we saw in late July.

Currently sitting with the 24th-ranked farm system, one wishes the Cubs would have been able to secure at least one top 100 prospect after ripping apart the core at the July 30 deadline. But seeing how those moves pan out will take some time. For now, let’s focus on Davis’ rapid ascent.

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Davis has been cruising through Double-A Tennessee thus far, currently slashing .272/.396/.530 with 11 home runs and 34 RBI. MLB grades all prospects based on five categories for hitters on a 20-80 grading scale. His hitting, power, arm strength and fielding all come in above average at 55, while receiving a 60 for his running. He is currently graded as a 60 overall and is now the Cubs’ #1 prospect.

Five-tool players are extremely rare in today’s game. Most lose certain attributes while gaining others elsewhere as time goes on. It’s good to see he is still above average in all five categories to this point. Though only at the Double-A level, it might not be long at all before he is promoted to Triple-A Iowa. On the other hand, you don’t want to push him too hard too fast, therefore it wouldn’t be surprising to not see him moved to Iowa until the start of next season.

Chicago Cubs won’t call on Brennen Davis until at least 2022

Currently, Davis has a big league ETA of 2022. If he can manage to propel himself to Triple-A sooner rather than later, I can see a scenario where he is called up toward the end of the season next year, much like we saw with Nico Hoerner in late 2019. It remains to be seen what happens with the team’s outfield mainstays such as Ian Happ and Jason Heyward moving forward. It also will be interesting to see if the Cubs sign anybody in free agency that would take up an outfield spot.

Of course, at this point, he’d compete for outfield reps with guys like Rafael Ortega and Michael Hermosillo. But at the end of the day, you’re not taking away reps from your top prospect for the current group. That’s just a hard truth.

Needless to say, Davis is on the right path and has his pedal to the metal.  You love to see him not only hit for power but hit for average as well. It’s also nice to see that he has not committed an error at the Double-A level, either. It goes to show that the team’s top prospect is looking more and more like the real deal on both sides of the ball.