Cubs prospect James Triantos is torching Arizona Fall League pitching

Chicago Cubs prospect James Triantos had himself a fine season at South Bend, batting .285 with a .363 on-base percentage, but he didn't show much in the power department, slugging an abysmal .390 in 80 games.

But in the Arizona Fall League, he's flipped the switch and gone on a power tear - eyeing the league's all-time OPS record of 1.339 set back in 2010 by Dustin Ackley. In 17 AFL games, Triantos is slashing .422/.500/.766 with 11 base hits, including five triples.

Cubs infield prospect James Triantos is making a name for himself

Triantos, the Cubs' #9 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, often goes overlooked among the likes of Pete Crow-Armstrong, Kevin Alcantara and Cade Horton. But that's not a bad thing if you ask the 20-year-old infielder.

"Our farm system is loaded right now with guys. Everybody can play, everybody is competing. It’s fun. You got to keep playing, keep getting better, keep working on your craft. I enjoy working with those guys because they’re so good, they take it seriously and they’re locked in all the time."

James Triantos, via MLB.com

Triantos is one of Chicago's most highly-regarded infield prospects, along with last year's first-rounder Matt Shaw but, like I said, he's flown under the radar for the most part. On the heels of this breakout Fall League showing, you can bet he'll have a lot of eyes on him heading into 2024 and, hopefully, he can build on what he's done down in Arizona.

Stories like this are a nice reminder that there's a lot to this sytem outside of those blue chip names. Chicago has prospect depth unlike anything we've seen in nearly a decade - and a lot of those guys are going to start impacting the big league roster, as either contributors or trade chips, in the very near future.