Chicago Cubs Minors: Newly ranked top 10 shows a brighter future ahead

The team at Baseball America recently finished releasing their respective top 10 prospect rankings for each organization. There is a bright spot beginning to shimmer on the north side of Chicago. Don’t look now, but the Chicago Cubs are working their way back toward having one of the strongest farm systems in all of baseball.

Prospects can be tricky because they are prospects and not fully developed big leaguers. Arguably, a team like the San Diego Padres boasted a top-5 farm system for multiple seasons in a row. While many of those players have turned into something special, they are no further along in their quest to win a championship than they were prior. This is where my point rests.

When the Cubs shipped the ‘Big 3’ out of Wrigleyville this summer, an outcry of defiance overshadowed the positives because there were things to like in the return in each of those deals individually. Now, three of those faces find themselves in this newly-constructed top 10 – and this may be only the beginning of a brighter future ahead in Chicago.

Chicago Cubs Minors: Examination of the ‘preseason top ten’

At number one is Brennen Davis, which is a surprise to nobody. Davis has been nothing short of heroic and continues just to get better. He is on the precipice of transitioning into a full-timer for the Cubs, and although not quite there, it will be hard to keep him off the active roster at any point this upcoming year, especially with the Cubs not expecting to contend, but instead, grow.

Numbers two through five encapsulate three separate areas of need in shortstop Cristian Hernandez, left-hander Brailyn Marquez, and, finally, outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong. For what it’s worth, he represented the return for former postseason hero and fan-favorite Javier Báez.

Of these three, no season is probably more critical to developing long-term success than this year is for Marquez. A guy who has been dominant through much of his minor league career, things turned south, and Marquez will need to tactfully work back to full strength from his injury last season tin a return to form.

Crow-Armstrong, whom New York drafted 19th overall in the 2020 MLB Draft and subsequently signed for $3.9 million, hit .417 in his first professional season and will be an integral part of this system’s overall growth.

Southpaw Jordan Wicks, the Cubs’ first-round pick from 2021, bolsters a five-pitch mix and will be a force, whether in the rotation or the pen. Ultimately, he and Marquez could effectively make up a nasty back half to the bullpen one day. So there are certainly high hopes for the Kansas State alum.

Flying under the radar at number six is outfielder Kevin Alcantara, one piece of the Anthony Rizzo return from the New York Yankees. He joins Crow-Armstrong in the upper echelon of outfield prospects. Going with Davis, it sounds like a solid outfield with a high upside for contact and many Gold Gloves.

Right-hander Caleb Kilian came in at number seven which is fun. He, too, will be an integral part of the bullpen in the long term and a piece that was tertiary in the Kris Bryant trade. It will be essential to see where he continues heading into 2022.

The final three on this list are three guys I’ve discussed at length at various points. However, they are not as well-known to the general fan base due to their significant rise over the past year. Therefore, rounding out the first official list is infielder Owen Caissie, left-handed pitcher DJ Herz, and outfielder Yohendrick Pinango.

Herz and Pinango have shown some of the most significant jumps in the system. In addition, Herz has become of the best overall prospect arms in the system. His arsenal has been called electric, and he is maybe my favorite prospect to watch coming into 2022.

If Herz was at the forefront of the pitching talent of risers, Pinango fell in that bucket on the offensive side. He moved to Class-A Advanced to close the year out as a 19-year-old and hit .289 over a 24-game cup of coffee.

Systems can be fluid to the final point of this organization as a whole, and it goes with each organization. You’re not going to have a system like the Cubs had with Theo Epstein more than once in a few decades, which is acceptable. It is time to celebrate the new generation of Cubs baseball.