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2024 Spring Training Chicago Cubs' Top Prospects (#10-6)
The Chicago Cubs' top ten prospects going into this season are as talented as the top ten in any farm system in all of baseball, with legitimate major league starting pitching and a potential 30 homerun hitter.
The Chicago Cubs have one of the most improved minor league systems in all of Major League Baseball. That didn’t happen because they dealt Cody Bellinger and Marcus Stroman at the deadline for a massive haul, it happened because of solid development at the lower levels and what appears to be a great crop of rookies from the Rule 4 Draft in June.
The players in the top ten of a farm system of this caliber are all potential future all-stars. We'll see a couple of starting pitchers who could be in the rotation at Wrigley this season, an infielder who gives off Ben Zobrist vibes, the player we got in return for Kris Bryant a couple of years back and a player that has the possibility of being a top-ten prospect in all of baseball at this time next season.
Let’s dive into the list.
Number 10
Ben Brown RHP
Age: 24
2023 Level(s): AA Tennessee, AAA Iowa
Joined the organization via: David Robertson trade with Philadelphia Phillies
2023 Stats: 92.2 IP, 4.27 ERA, 130/57 K/BB
At the midpoint last season Ben Brown was all the way up at number at number five on our list. He’s seen his stock tumble a bit because he simply wasn’t able to replicate his first month or two of the season for the entire season and then the injuries started to pop up.
The greatest ability is availability and when it comes down to it, there was a spot open in the rotation at the end of the season in Chicago and the Cubs had to pass over Brown in favor of Jordan Wicks because Brown had struggled and was returning from injury. In the grand scheme of things, that worked out well and Wicks hit the ground running at Wrigley, but there was a legitimate chance that Brown’s lack of availability could have been the difference between making the playoffs and missing it.
All that being said, it’s impossible not to look at the blistering start to 2023 that Brown had and hope that he can have some semblance of that dominance this season and beyond. Over his first four games of the season, he pitched 20 innings, allowed one earned run, and struck out 30 batters while only walking six.
He finds himself at ten on this list because he was simultaneously the most exciting prospect in the system to start the year in 2023 and the most disappointing to end the season. If he can get back to the guy he was for those first four games then the Cubs rotation will be in an extremely solid place moving forward.
Number 9
Jordan Wicks LHP
Age: 24
2023 Level(s): AA Tennessee, AAA Iowa, MLB
Joined the organization via: 1st Round Pick in the 2021 Draft
2023 Stats: 91.1 IP, 3.55 ERA, 99/32 K/BB
At the midpoint last season we had Wicks as the 7th best prospect in the system. He ended up starting seven games for the Major League club and went an impressive 4-1 with a 4.41 ERA and yet he’s moved down in the rankings. It has significantly less to do with his play and instead, the skill of the system is simply so much more exciting than it was a couple of months ago.
Last season we had this to say:
In an ideal world, Wicks isn’t someone we’re considering coming up unless there are significant injuries next season. With a rotation that includes Marcus Stroman, Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon, Kyle Hendricks and Drew Smyly along with at least two guys that should be ahead of Wicks in the pecking order (Ben Brown and Hayden Wesneski) along with whatever other moves the Cubs make in the offseason, there’s a chance we don’t see Wicks for some time.
Obviously, we didn’t find ourselves in an ideal world. Wicks was called upon much sooner than most would have expected and he handled himself in an extremely impressive manner, but he’s someone that could likely use a little more seasoning in AAA to start the season.
The major difference between Wicks and someone like Brown, Cade Horton, or Jackson Ferris is upside. Wicks is the kind of pitcher that every good team needs. He’s a solid middle/back of the rotation arm that will eat innings, not walk a lot of guys, and strike out a fair amount. He’s a great pitcher for Wrigley Field and the defense that the Cubs have built, being predominantly a ground ball pitcher, but he doesn’t have the upside that other arms in the system have so he will likely not rise much further on future lists.
Number 8
Jefferson Rojas SS
Age: 18
2023 Level(s): Rookie Ball, Low-A Myrtle Beach
Joined the organization via: IFA Signing in 2022
2023 Stats: 310 PA, .266/.342/.400, 7 HR, 22 XBH, 13/17 SB 31 RBI 48 R
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: The Cubs have a teenage shortstop that they signed through International Free Agency that has the potential to be a top prospect in all of baseball. His name isn’t Starlin Castro or Gleyber Torres or Cristian Hernandez.
Jefferson Rojas has done everything the Cubs could possibly have asked of him as an 18-year-old last season. He played at multiple levels, including full-season ball, and showed that he could hit for average, draw some walks, and hit for power while playing solid up-the-middle defense and utilizing his speed on the basepaths.
That’s about all you can ask for.
This year Rojas should likely spend at least part of the season back at Low-A Myrtle Beach but getting playing time for him, Cristian Hernandez, Pedro Ramirez, and Alexis Hernandez have to at least play a role in the Cubs' decisions as to where to send some of these top prospects and the only one that looked like he could handle High-A South Bend would be Rojas.
If we see him spend a portion of the season at High-A then seeing him at Wrigley Field prior to his 20th birthday is at least a possibility, even if it’s a slight one.
Number 7
James Triantos 2B/3B
Age: 20
2023 Level(s): Rookie Ball, High-A South Bend, AA Tennessee
Joined the organization via: 2nd Round Pick in 2021 MLB Draft
2023 Stats: 363 PA, .287/.364/.391, 4 HR, 22 XBH, 16/20 SB, 48 RBI, 45 R
At the midpoint of the 2023 season we had this to say about Triantos:
Triantos had an incredible rookie season. He hit for average, he hit for power and he looked like a solid defender, making the Cubs look brilliant for signing him to a massive overslot deal in the 2021 draft. Last season in full-season ball the average dipped, but the power tanked as he only hit one more home run (7) in nearly 400 more plate appearances. This season the power has remained elusive but the guy just doesn’t strike out.
What was true at the midpoint continued to be true as the season progressed. The major difference between Triantos and someone like Brett Bateman who didn’t rank as highly on this list is that Triantos produced these numbers, at least partially, at AA Tennessee and he did it from an infield position rather than the outfield.
We’d love to see more plate appearances this season but his ability to put the bat on the ball and get on base is a skill that the Cubs have obviously put a premium on considering their current double-play tandem of Nico Hoerner and Dansby Swanson. He walked (35) nearly as often as he struck out (39) so he should put up good at-bats and his utility to be used at various positions in the infield should help him make the Major League roster sooner rather than later, especially if he can find some of the power that has eluded his bat the last two seasons.
Number 6
Owen Caissie OF
Age: 21
2023 Level(s): AA Tennessee
Joined the organization via: Kris Bryant Trade with the San Francisco Giants
2023 Stats: 528 PA, .289/.399/.519, 22 HR, 55 XBH, 7/16 SB, 84 RBI, 77 R
Owen Caissie is a player that has the power you’re looking for. If we were to pick a prospect of the year in the Cubs system it would be hard not to pick Caissie for a myriad of reasons. He played in 120 games and put up 528 plate appearances. In those appearances, he picked up 55 extra-base hits and still batted .289.
The problem that you’ll run into when looking at Caissie is trying to determine where he’ll play defensively. He’s not a standout in the outfield, where the Cubs seemingly have their future already pretty well-determined with the long-term contracts of Seiya Suzuki and Ian Happ as well as the potential return of Cody Bellinger or the emergence of Pete Crow-Armstrong.
That being said, the bat will play anywhere on the diamond, including at DH. Not only did Caissie hit for average last season but he also walked at an impressive clip posting a near .400 OBP and as previously discussed he can absolutely hit for power.
He spent the entirety of the 2023 season at AA Tennessee and showed that he was too good for that level. The Cubs will open the season with him at AAA Iowa, just one step away from Wrigley Field and depending on the future of Christopher Morel, he could be crushing homers over the ivy before the All-Star Break.
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