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. 

Cubs Triple-A Pitcher of the Week: RHP Cam Sanders

2 G, 4.2 IP, 1.93 ERA, 2 H, 2 BB, 7 K

Cam Sanders is a really interesting pitcher. He seems like a Katy Perry fan because he is hot and then he’s cold and there usually isn’t a ton of in-between. This week he limited the walks and hits but his K numbers continued to be there and that’s the difference between a pitcher that is usable in the majors and one destined to serve as minor league depth.

Sanders is similar to Young in the fact that he’s not what you think of when you think of 'prospects' due to his age. That being said, good teams are able to withstand difficulties with injuries and ineffectiveness from expected contributors by promoting from within. Even the 2016 Cubs World Series Team didn’t have the depth at the upper levels to do that, and arguably that’s what led to a potential dynasty becoming a moderate hot-streak because the Cubs had to trade some of their younger, lower-level prospects for major league contributors rather than promote from within. 

Sanders is the exact kind of arm you want to have in your upper levels because if there’s an injury to one of the Cubs’ middle relievers he’s a guy you can plug in and not lose a ton. He’s not dissimilar in terms of chances of success from Julian Merryweather or Michael Rucker, for example. 

Cubs Double-A Hitter of the Week: 1B Haydn McGeary

.500/.593/.955 5/4 BB/K, 1 2B, 3 HR, 6 R, 8 RBI, 1-1 SB

Haydn McGeary is super interesting to me. He’s not very young, but he’s in his first full professional season as the Cubs selected him out of a small college in the 15th round in the 2022 MLB Draft.

Since then, the man has just gone out there and mashed. This week he got on base in almost 60 percent of his plate appearances, hit three homers, stole a base and walked more than he struck out. He is still listed as a catcher on most depth charrts, but he’s going to be a first base/designated hitter type of guy and it seems so far that he has the bat to carry either position. 

It’s unfair to compare someone (especially a 15th round rookie) to Kyle Schwarber, but checking the box scores daily and seeing him go 2-for-3 with two walks reminds a ton of Schwarber’s short time in the minor leagues. If McGeary continues to obliterate pitchers at Double-A, there’s every chance in the world that he’ll be given a shot at the Triple-A level and be just one phone call away from Wrigley Field where his approach represents something the Cubs always covet from their hitters. 

Cubs High-A Hitter of the Week: OF Kevin Alcantara

.381/.435/.524 1 HR, 4 R, 4 RBI, 1-1 SB

This one feels good. As much as I love when Carlos Guzman and Jared Young get to have a week to be celebrated, you need your top prospects to play like top prospects. Kevin Alcantara had a slow start to the year, to say the least, and you’d still like to see the power expand a little bit, but his slash line this week combined with his stolen base and home run gives you a little glimpse of what you can hope for at the upper levels in a year or so.

Losing Anthony Rizzo hurt. He was the leader of that 2016 Cubs team and potentially the most important player on a roster full of important players and he was dealt for teenagers leaving many North Side fans hurting.

Weeks like this act as a band-aid for those internal pains. The light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter and hopefully once we reach that light we don’t find ourselves entering another tunnel in a few more short years. This team appears to have the prospect quantity and quality that it will take to contend for a long window and Alcantara should be a part of that. 

Cubs High-A Pitcher of the Week: RHP Cade Horton

1 G, 5 IP, 0.00 ERA, 2 H, 0 BB, 10 K

Cade Horton was even better this week than he was last week when he was also the South Bend pitcher of the week. If he stays on this trajectory he’ll likely be the June Pitcher of the Month. 

Over his last three starts, Horton has racked up 27 strikeouts across 13 innings and only given up two earned runs. Unlike his Triple-A counterpart, Ben Brown, another Cubs prospect pitcher that has drawn acclaim for his ability to miss bats, Horton hasn’t had trouble with his walks over this span of greatness. He issued just one walk over that three game span and that absolutely goes hand-in-hand with the success he’s been having.

Horton started the year in Low-A Myrtle Beach and he’s been in South Bend for just five starts now. That being said, he’s starting to show the dominance he showed for the Pelicans and may force his way to Tennessee before much longer. I can’t believe this is the case, but the Cubs seem to actually be developing some legitimate pitching talent.

Cubs Single-A Hitter of the Week: OF Felix Stevens

.375/.400/.958 1 BB, 2 2B, 4 HR, 7 R, 6 RBI, 1-1 SB

Felix Stevens is another guy I love to see pop up on these sort of lists. He’s a little old for the competition at 23 years old but he’s showing in-game power in a way that few other are at this level. He’s a legitimate power/speed combo threat and the four homers he hit this week could be just the beginning as he appears to be settling into a nice groove.

He’s only been with the Cubs for about a year at this point, but he’s another one that I’d love to see at a little bit higher level. Like I said, he’s older than the competition at Low-A and when there is a disparity between the mental and physical maturity of prospects it makes it tough to really know how inflated the numbers are and whether or not it’s artificial.

If Stevens continues ripping the cover off the ball, look for him to be in South Bend sooner rather than later. Then, we'll have to see how he stacks up.

Cubs Single-A Pitcher of the Week: RHP Grant Kipp

1 G, 6 IP, 1.50 ERA, 4 H, 2 BB, 6 K

Grant Kipp is on this list with a nearly identical line to the one that led to him appearing here last week. Honestly, not much has changed from what I said then, so here’s a quick recap of what was said:

Kipp will draw comparisons to Kyle Hendricks as an Ivy League graduate whose calling card is his pitchability more than his movement or velocity. He’s significantly older than the competition at Myrtle Beach; in fact a majority of the batters he faces at Low-A are younger than the ones he faced while at Yale.

That being said, he’s treating those inexperienced hitters in the exact way that he should: by dominating them. This week it only took him 70 pitches to get through six innings even while striking out eight batters. The Cubs have done a pretty solid job of adding young pitching depth with limited ceiling but solid floor without having to spend a ton of capital on that area of the system.

Nick Hull, our prospect pitcher of the month for Low-A was a massive under-slot signing in the 2022 draft, we’ve already touched on Cade Horton as the Pitching Prospect of the Week this week at High-A and now we can add Kipp, an undrafted free agent, as Pitching Prospect of the Week at Low-A to that list. 

At 6’6, 220 pounds, Kipp is an ideal size for a pitcher in the Major Leagues. The advanced metrics don’t think he’s been as good as his old-school metrics are showing, but that’s usually how it goes for pitchers like Kipp who rely more on their mind than their stuff to get batters out.