Chicago Cubs Minor League Recap: This prospect just turned in a whale of a week

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It was a disappointing week for three of the four affiliates this week, but the Tennessee Smokies were red-hot in rattling off some wins and Brennen Davis and BJ Murray may have saved their seasons at Triple-A Iowa.

The Iowa Cubs were significantly better than their 1-5 record from last week, but they were still only hovering at .500 by going 3-3 against the Columbus Clippers, and the Syracuse Mets. They’ll look to have a winning run this week in a six-game set with the Indianapolis Indians.

Meanwhile, the Tennessee Smokies were untouchable. They went 6-1 against the Chattanooga Lookouts and the Rocket City Trash Pandas. They’ll try to continue to prove that they’re one of the best teams in the minor leagues this week as they finish their series against the Trash Pandas and open one with the Pensacola Blue Wahoos.

At High-A, the South Bend Cubs went 3-4 this week, continuing to struggle to get anything going outside of Felix Stevens who has been fantastic this season. They’ll finish their series with the Fort Wayne TinCaps this week and follow that up by starting a series with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

Finally, Low-A Myrtle Beach got back on track after posting a losing record last week by getting back to a .500 record for this week by going 3-3 against the Augusta Green Jackets and the Fredericksburg Nationals. Next week they’ll finish that series with the Nationals and then move on to the Carolina Mudcats.

Hitter of the Week

Brennen Davis

OF (Triple-A Iowa Cubs) - .357/.609/1.214 4 HR, 5 RBI, 9 R, 5/5 BB/K

Brennen Davis just had the best statistical week of any Chicago Cubs prospect this season. In fact, his slugging percentage was almost as high as some of the best performers we’ve seen this season had for their OPS.

Long-term Cubs fans don’t need the background information on Davis because he’s been breaking your hearts for nearly half a decade. He was a top prospect before the 2020, 2021, 2022 and even 2023 seasons. However, injuries nearly completely derailed his career.

His story isn’t dissimilar from Miguel Amaya’s, who is currently in his second season with the big league club after injuries and prospect fatigue nearly ended his career. In an ideal world, Davis' story will have a similar ending.

There is legitimate superstar potential under the hood with Davis. Earlier this week we discussed the possibility of trading Davis to get him a change of scenery, but after a week like this, that thought may need to be reconsidered.

Pitcher of the Week

Cam Sanders

RHP (Double-A Tennessee Smokies) - 3 G, 3.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0 H, 0 BB, 5 K

Let’s get the bad stuff out of the way first. Cam Sanders is not Cade Horton or Michael Arias or Drew Gray or any of the fun youngsters the Cubs have in their farm system. He’s a 27-year-old reliever in Double-A.

That being said, any Cubs fan that has watched a game this season and sees the starting rotation as the problem with the team hasn’t been watching closely enough, so when a relief pitcher does well in the minor leagues it should be grabbing your attention and you should be wondering if that player can help the Major League club.

Sanders has never pitched in the big leagues but this could be the year if he continues to find himself in Double-A Tennessee after struggling a bit to start the season in Triple-A Iowa. He may not be the flashiest guy in the system but if he can prevent a blown save then he’s worth talking about.

Honorable Mentions

Felix Stevens

OF (High-A South Bend Cubs) - .316/.409/.632 2 HR, 3 BB, 5 RBI, 2R

After having the best week of his career with the Cubs last week, Felix Stevens had almost an equally strong encore performance that may be showing he’s simply too advanced of a player right now for High-A competition.

That shouldn’t necessarily come as a surprise considering he is nearly two years older than the average competitor at High-A, and while his strikeouts continue to be a massive concern, you can’t deny the power output. After putting up a .938 slugging percentage last week, Stevens followed it up this week with a .632 this week and he’s now hit five homers in the last two weeks.

Like we said last week, “He’ll be 25 years old in July… so there’s not much long-term upside here, but it’s good to see a guy that grinds at his craft put together a solid week like this one.”

Maybe there’s a little more upside than originally expected.

BJ Murray

3B (Triple-A Iowa Cubs) - .333/.478/944 3 HR, 2 2B, 2 BB, 5 RBI, 6 R

It’s about time.

Murray started the season in a funk and we named him a bounce-back candidate in the first Minor League Recap of the season. Since then, he’s remained pretty abysmal by hitting .185/.306/.347 on the season.

This week, however, he turned it around. If it hadn’t been for the incredible story of Brennen Davis he would have likely been the prospect hitter of the week and would have made the preseason declaration that he could wind up being the best prospect in the Cubs’ system a little bit less offensive.

Murray has a lot going for him. He’s won championships at High-A South Bend, Double-A Tennessee and will look to do the same for Triple-A Iowa. He plays a position of significant need for the Cubs at the Major League level as Christopher Morel doesn’t look like he is capable of becoming an average defensive third-baseman despite having an absolute cannon for a right arm. Finally, he can hit for significant power as shown by his five extra-base-hit performance this week.

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