Chicago Cubs Prospects of the Week: Kevin Alcantara, Cade Horton shine

Cubs Triple-A Hitter of the Week: 1B Jared Young

.423/.545/.692 1 2B, 2 HR, 7 R, 9 RBI

Jared Young is not young by prospect standards. He’s not beating down the door to demand a call-up like Nick Madrigal did this week. But he is a solid depth piece to allow the Cubs to make roster decisions that won’t require money to be spent on the position.

Imagine going into the season and knowing who Eric Hosmer, Edwin Rios and Trey Mancini would be as hitters. Imagine knowing where the Cubs would be as a team and knowing what their struggles have been this year. Imagine knowing that Matt Mervis would be a guy that this team would want to cut his teeth in the majors a little bit. 

If all of that had been known (and it’s kind of unacceptable if the Cubs front office didn’t know it) then now picture this alternate reality: the Cubs spend the $8.72 million allocated toward the three of them and instead applied it to the bullpen. That could have meant some solid additions that may have prevented the team from being in the position it is right now.

Moral of the story: Young may not be the answer but he is an answer, and a relatively solid one in the form of Triple-A Iowa depth.