4 under the radar Cubs prospects to watch in the Spring Breakout Game

The Corner Infielders

BJ Murray 3B

We recently wrote about BJ Murray and his ability to win everywhere he goes. That will likely continue in this showcase. In fact it wouldn’t shock me if this game (that means nothing whatsoever to the current or future success of either team involved) hinges on a play that Murray makes.

Beyond Murray’s ability to win, the reason that both he and Haydn McGeary are players worth watching is because they occupy the positions with the greatest question marks heading into the season and they have the ability to provide those questions with answers.

If the season started today the Cubs would use some combination of:

- Christopher Morel, whose struggles in the field are well-documented and could derail an otherwise incredible team defense.
- Nick Madrigal, who is dealing with the same hamstring problems that have had him limp to mediocre seasons seemingly every year.
- Patrick Wisdom, who barely got over the Mendoza line last season by batting .205 which is somehow worse than his 2022 batting average of .207.

Obviously, that’s not ideal, so having a third baseman at AAA Iowa who had 54 extra-base hits in 2023 while leading all Cubs’ prospects in on-base percentage the year before is a fantastic luxury. If Murray starts the season hot and third base continues to look like a position of need, it wouldn’t be shocking to see him at Wrigley by the All-Star Break.

Haydn McGeary 1B

Much like Murray, McGeary occupies a position of need for the Cubs and he’ll likely start the season in AAA along with him. MLB Pipeline had him as the Cubs’ 21st best prospect and we had him at 18, but more impressive than that is that they also had him ranked as one of the ten best first base prospects in all of baseball.

McGeary rakes. That’s all there is to it. Like Murray, he was a 15th-round draft pick and not much was expected of him, but since joining the Cubs he’s hit at every level. Last season at AA Tennessee he hit .301/.415/.487. 

There’s reason to believe that he hasn’t reached his peak power production and getting out of AA where the pitchers have a bit of an advantage by using the pre-tacked baseballs we may start to see that power surge in AAA Iowa to start the season.

With Matt Mervis not on the roster due to major league service time, it looks like McGeary will draw the start and play most, if not all, of the game at first base so it should give us a really good look at what we can expect for years to come.