Chicago Cubs Prospects that insiders believe could leap to Top 100 Status in 2025

Last month we did a deep dive into the Cubs farm system and came away with our Top 30 Prospects that you should expect to help the team in one way or another in the years to come:

30-21

20-11

10-6

5-1

We’ve seen outlets give the Cubs a lot of love on their farm system by ranking Cubs prospects in their Top 100 lists, but if looking at top prospects is playing the long game, then Fangraphs' “Picks to Click” is the longer game. 

The idea here is to look at players that missed the 2024 Top 100 List but could easily find themselves on that list next season. Collectively, the group of writers that compiled the list last season had about a 30% hit rate and the Cubs have four guys on this year’s list, so in theory we should see at least one new name on the list for next season.

Jefferson Rojas SS

The first name is the most likely and he came in as our number eight prospect this season and that’s shortstop Jefferson Rojas. He was an international signing in 2022 and last season he hit .266/.342/.400 with seven homers and 13 stolen bases. We had this to say about him when we did our top prospect list:

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. 

Haydn McGeary 1B

We had McGeary a little lower on our list at number 22, but it was due more to a lack of defensive versatility than to a lack of ceiling. Last season he hit .275/.397/.462 with 19 homers and 88 RBI. He was rarely out of the lineup, putting up 532 at-bats in 124 games and he was ranked in the top ten of first base prospects by MLB Pipeline earlier this offseason. 

Drew Gray RHP

Gray is kind of the opposite of McGeary in that he was number 21 on our list but due almost entirely to his ceiling rather than his previous production. Since being drafted in 2021 Gray hasn’t pitched much due to injury. He put together 34 innings last year and had 56 strikeouts during that time. That being said, he’s a 6’3 lefty with a ceiling as high as any pitcher in the system now that Jackson Ferris has been traded so he could easily fly up lists. 

Michael Arias RHP

Arias was a heck of a story last season. The Blue Jays gave up on him as a position player and the Cubs had him start pitching and for the first part of the season, he looked like a diamond that had been found in the rough. In May he had a 3.38 ERA across five starts in which he struck out 29 hitters over 18.2 IP. That being said, the rest of the season wasn’t much to write home about and he needs to work on his command if he wants to start climbing lists. He is on the 40-man so if the Cubs decide they need some power out of the bullpen he could quickly convert like Daniel Palencia did last season.

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