Ranking the best Chicago Cubs pitching prospects halfway through the season

Cubs Triple-A Pitcher of the First Half: RHP Ben Brown (23 Years Old)

12 G, 50 IP, 5.76 ERA, 74 K, 1.58 WHIP, .238 BAA

Ben Brown seems to have come back down to earth recently after a red hot April and a solid May. Brown was never a top-of-the-organization prospect when he was with the Phillies and he was traded for a half-season of a relief pitcher in his late 30s. He may not be the ace that we all hoped for when we saw the video game numbers he put up in Tennessee, but he’s still had a heck of a season so far.

As I alluded to, he pitched four games in Tennessee spanning 20 innings. In those 20 innings, he allowed one earned run and struck out 30 as he held opponents to a .186 batting average and only walked six hitters. 

That last number is going to be the one to keep an eye on as we go deeper into the season. When he arrived in Iowa in May he was almost equally dominant aside from one exceptionally bad start when he allowed seven runs. Across his other four May starts he allowed just three earned runs and it seemed like the Cubs had a real beast on their hands, even if he did walk twice as many batters in May as he did in April.

The wheels slowly started falling off in June. He had two different starts where he allowed six runs and only one scoreless outing. Even though he pitched nearly five fewer innings in June he saw his walks increase again to 16 in just 19.2 innings. That number hasn’t improved in his two July starts either. In just 6.1 innings in July, he’s given up six walks.

To say that Brown is the pitcher that he was in April would be inaccurate and unfair. To say that he’s the pitcher that he’s been in June and July so far would be equally inaccurate and unfair. The answer, as is almost always the case, is somewhere in the middle and if that’s the case with Brown’s trajectory then the Cubs still have a very usable piece that could be a difference-maker out of the bullpen immediately or a piece of the rotation as soon as the trade deadline passes or the next injury hits. 

I would have loved it if Brown would have forced his way to the majors and been an instant star, but development isn’t a straight line and there’s still every possibility that he could be a star eventually. 

Cubs Double-A Pitcher of the First Half: LHP Jordan Wicks (23 Years Old)

13 G, 58.1 IP, 3.39 ERA, 69 K, 1.17 WHIP, .227 BAA

Wicks continues the trend of every pitcher on this list earning a promotion as he pitched his last two games with the AAA Iowa Cubs. He avoided the massive culture shift from earlier this season when the Cubs were seemingly attempting to solve their major league bullpen problems by fast-tracking some of their starting pitching prospects into bullpen roles, the fruits of which can be seen as Daniel Palencia is now in the major league pen. 

The way he avoided that was by being exceptional all season. This should come as no surprise but in the two games he’s played since getting the call to Iowa he hasn’t been as impressive. His strikeout numbers are down, and his walks are up which has led to an increase in the runs he’s allowed and a decrease in the distance he’s been able to go in games.

However, if you look at the larger sample size of the 13 games he played in Tennessee you’ll see a player that has absolutely earned the promotion and a player that Cubs fans can dream of a little bit in hopes that they will have a deep stable of arms to pull from next season on their way to the playoffs.

Wicks isn’t the power pitcher that Brown or even the other two guys on this list are. He gets strikeouts, but he relies on soft contact in a way that’s more similar to a Justin Steele/Drew Smyly than Marcus Stroman. 

There is room for both of those guys on a major league staff, and it doesn’t make a ton of sense to spend as much money and resources on defense as the Cubs have if they intend to only develop pitchers that strike guys out. If you’re going to spend those resources on defense then you want to have some pitchers that allow hitters to put the ball in play and let your defense do the work.

Wicks doesn’t look like an ace. He doesn’t look like the most overpowering pitcher in the system. That being said, Justin Steele never looked like that either and he’s been one of the best pitchers in the National League for over a year now. There is a world where Wicks is pitching for the Cubs by the end of this season (albeit those odds are inversely related to the Cubs' playoff odds) but a more realistic option is for him to find his way into the rotation sometime next season depending on what the trade deadline and free agency look like for the Cubs this offseason. 

Cubs High-A Pitcher of the First Half: RHP Cade Horton (21 Years Old)

9 G, 39.1 IP, 3.89 ERA, 57 K, 1.09 WHIP, .214 BAA

The Cubs selected the helium prospect in last year’s MLB draft by selecting Horton, a pitcher from Oklahoma that had been pretty mediocre for much of the season before going into the College Baseball World Series and proceeding to dominate just about every hitter in the tournament.

He hasn’t missed a beat since joining the organization. He began the season in Myrtle Beach where the competition level simply wasn’t high enough. He allowed two earned runs across 14.1 innings and struck out 21. He needed a new challenge so he was promoted to South Bend.

The numbers weren’t as impressive in South Bend for the month of May as he adjusted to the new level. He had an ERA of 6.14 across four starts and while the strikeouts were still there (24) he saw his BAA balloon to .263 from the .086 it was with the Pelicans.

That being said, he found his footing in June and had one of the best months for a pitcher anywhere in the league as he worked to a 0.92 ERA across 19.2 innings with 29 strikeouts and a .136 BAA.

Horton has already had one promotion this season but I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibilities for him to end the season in AA with Tennessee. If that happens and he has another quick start to the season next year like he did this year then we could see him as a bullpen piece in a playoff run next season or a legitimate option for the rotation at the beginning of the 2025 season.