2 Cubs prospects on FanGraphs’ Top 100; 3 more narrowly miss the cut

FanGraphs has come out with their preseason prospect rankings heading into 2022, and they offer Chicago Cubs fans a glimmer of hope for the future. The organization currently has two top-100 prospects on the list, including Brennen Davis (#25) and Kevin Alcantara (#87). It is really interesting to see Alcantara, an outfielder who came over in the Anthony Rizzo deal last year, ranked in the top 100. There is reason to like him, he has a good upside with a lot of tools, though people were probably expecting Cristian Hernandez or Brailyn Marquez as the second Cub in the top 100.

There are three other Cubs prospects who fell just outside the top 100. These guys are ranked between the 115th and 101st prospects in baseball. So it is not like these are three players who are ranked 50-some spots away from the top 100, they are right on the cusp.

Here are the Cubs prospects on the outside looking in to start the year

The three prospects who just missed the cut include Owen Caissie (#104), James Triantos (#106) and Reggie Preciado (#114).

Both Caissie and Preciado came over in the Yu Darvish deal with the San Diego Padres. Caissie got a taste of A-ball Myrtle Beach last year, while the others have yet to get past rookie ball. MiLB will play as scheduled this year no matter what happens with the MLB lockout, so that will change. Lucky for all of these guys, none of them are on the 40-man roster.

It is pretty significant that Triantos, the 56th overall pick in the 2021 draft, is already climbing his way toward the top-100 list. At just 19 years old, the shortstop from Madison High, Vienna, Virginia has already raised some eyebrows from people following the Cubs system. In just 25 rookie ball games in 2021 he racked up 33 hits, six home runs and seven doubles while slashing .327/.376/.594.

Not to jump ahead of ourselves, but Triantos got some comps to Alex Bregman and David Wright from scouts per MLB.com. Preciado was considered Panama’s top prospect in 2019 and Caissie was the first Canadian to be taken in the 2020 draft. It is worth noting that none of these guys are 20 or older. They have room to grow and are still a ways away from playing at the MLB level but this is good news to see.

One could wonder where guys like Hernandez, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Jordan Wicks and Caleb Kilian fall, but there is reason to believe they can work themselves closer to the fringe, if not eventually the top-100 in due time.