Most Highly Anticipated Prospect

[KingCubsFan]

Which prospect's performance are you looking forward to seeing this year? It can be Top 10 prospect, sleeper, etc. I'll go with Brett Jackson. I didn't like the pick at the time, but if he puts together a full season like last year's performance it looks like we may have a young Edmonds-like player.

[jersey cubs fan]

Starlin Castro, bar none. A potential franchise shortstop is an incredibly valuable thing.

[Guest]

I'd say Castro, too.

 

But I'm also very anxious to see Vitters this season. He could do anything from break out to be a huge success to begin a flame out. He's really the only player in the system that you could potentially slot into the #3 or #4 hole for the long-term and be really happy with the production there. The other top offensive prospects are highly ranked because of positional value. Vitters is the only guy we have that could be a real masher in the future.

[scarey]

Position player I'm looking forward to is Ryan Flaherty. If he can keep his power numbers up at A+/AA, he could become a very valuable prospect.

 

The pitcher I'm looking forward to is Cashner. I'm hoping he starts to regularly pitch 4-6 innings per outing and can rack up more strikeouts.

[davell]

Starlin Castro, bar none. A potential franchise shortstop is an incredibly valuable thing.

 

 

Same here for the exact same reason.

[davell]

The best thing about this question though is while everyone has a guy from our top 6(almost a consensus of Castro, Vitters, J Jackson, B Jackson, Lee, and Cashner) they will probably want to follow more than the rest, there are TONS of guys who we will be following very closely.

 

Outside of our top 6, we've got the first full season of Raley, Kirk, Rusin, and McNutt to look forward to. We have our Korean signings(Kim, Na, Chen, and 2 Wangs :mrgreen: ) making their stateside debuts this year. Rhee coming back from TJS is something we're all going to be extremely interested in.

 

Anyway, my 5 guys I really want to follow closely this year who aren't showing up in most of the top 10 lists are.......

 

5 Ryan Searle

4 Austin Kirk

3 Trey McNutt

2 Dong Yub Kim

1 Jeffry Antigua

[illiniguy]

I'd say Castro, too.

 

But I'm also very anxious to see Vitters this season. He could do anything from break out to be a huge success to begin a flame out. He's really the only player in the system that you could potentially slot into the #3 or #4 hole for the long-term and be really happy with the production there. The other top offensive prospects are highly ranked because of positional value. Vitters is the only guy we have that could be a real masher in the future.

Please let him break out. We are due for one of those.

[SouthSideRyan]

Rhee and Lake

[Clem Fandango]

Obviously Castro is a given. So besides him, I'd like to see Hak-Ju Lee continue the success he had last year at a higher level. To know that we might have another Castro like success story scorching through the system that could be on the other side of the bag is a pretty awesome thing to have on the farm

[jersey cubs fan]

If you are not counting Castro, I'd say Brett Jackson. I'm not looking forward to or anticipating Vitters season at all, as I fear the worst with him. I'd be very excited to see Jackson build on his 2009 and emerge as a legit potential 2011 contributor. Also, given the lack of stability at his position, and the value he'd bring by playing that position, there's a lot of hope there.

[soonercub]

In the outfield: I hope both Jackson and Burke can build on last year. I like the Jackson-Edmonds comparison. I am trying to think about a Burke comparison. A young Jeremy Burnitz (not the Cub Burnitz) might be reasonable.

 

In the infield: I hope Castro and Vitters can keep it up as they climb up. I hope Vitters can really become a good defensive player. I would like to see Flaherty keep his power, but increase his average and just the opposite for LeMahieu. Would love to see Lee keep it up at the next level.

 

Pitching: Like to see J. Jackson keep it up at the higher levels and that Cashner can continue to develop into a starter. I hope Carpenter stays healthy and builds on last year. I hope some of the young lefty's emerge.

[davell]

I think Lee, Burke, Rhee, Archer, and Antigua have the best chance to break out this year. A couple of others I'm looking forward to seeing are Matthew Spencer, Matt Cerda coming back from injury, Justin Bristow in his 2nd season post-TJS, Sergio Burruel, and Arismendy Alcantara.

[SouthSideRyan]

Good call, I'm looking forward to seeing what Antigua does.

[Cubswin11]

Castro and Vitters are the obvious choices. But I am really interested in Kyler Burke. He was the Cubs minor league POY and was a first round pick and finally seemed to put it together (even though it was a repeat level, the league was inline with his age), he could potentially take over in RF for Kosuke next year after he becomes a free agent and could be a solid #2 or 5 hitter.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I'm excited that it's hard to pick. I want to see what Lee and Watkins do in full season ball, I want to see if Brett Jackson can keep up his professional performance to day. I want to see how Cashner does when stretched out further. And my personal favorite the Famous Jay Jackson, I want to see him put up strong numbers in Iowa.

[jersey cubs fan]

Castro and Vitters are the obvious choices. But I am really interested in Kyler Burke. He was the Cubs minor league POY and was a first round pick and finally seemed to put it together (even though it was a repeat level, the league was inline with his age), he could potentially take over in RF for Kosuke next year after he becomes a free agent and could be a solid #2 or 5 hitter.

 

Kosuke doesn't become a FA until after the 2011 season, which would mean somebody would be taking over in 2012, three seasons away, not next year. That could be the earliest you could hope to see Burke, if you see him at all.

[Cubswin11]

Castro and Vitters are the obvious choices. But I am really interested in Kyler Burke. He was the Cubs minor league POY and was a first round pick and finally seemed to put it together (even though it was a repeat level, the league was inline with his age), he could potentially take over in RF for Kosuke next year after he becomes a free agent and could be a solid #2 or 5 hitter.

 

Kosuke doesn't become a FA until after the 2011 season, which would mean somebody would be taking over in 2012, three seasons away, not next year. That could be the earliest you could hope to see Burke, if you see him at all.

Yeah I knew that just worded it wrong, I meant to say after next year when he becomes a FA. Not next year after he becomes a FA.

[davell]

Not sure where to put this, but John Sickels is answering EVERY question you can get to him before 4 PM CST. Only one question per poster though and if you're not already a member, it takes a day before you can post anyway. Still, hopefully some guys see this and ask some Cub-related questions......

 

So far, someone asked about Castro's longterm HR power, upside of Lee, and I just asked for him to rank in order the potential breakout potential of some of our pitching. Bristow, Antigua, Rusin, Kirk, McNutt, and Searle were the guys I asked him about.

[Outshined_One]

Not sure where to put this, but John Sickels is answering EVERY question you can get to him before 4 PM CST. Only one question per poster though and if you're not already a member, it takes a day before you can post anyway. Still, hopefully some guys see this and ask some Cub-related questions......

 

So far, someone asked about Castro's longterm HR power, upside of Lee, and I just asked for him to rank in order the potential breakout potential of some of our pitching. Bristow, Antigua, Rusin, Kirk, McNutt, and Searle were the guys I asked him about.

 

I asked him a question about some of the lesser-known Pacific Rim guys in the system. My gut is that he doesn't have much info on any of them, but it'd be nice to learn a bit more about guys like Spencer and Hams.

 

As for my picks...

 

Well-known Cubs: OF Brett Jackson and P Andrew Cashner

 

Responding to Tim's remark about Vitters being the only potential 3/4 hitter in our system, I think Brett Jackson has the potential to fit that mold. He doesn't have Vitters' raw power, but he has a really tantalizing combination of power, speed, and patience to go with the ability to play CF very well. Frankly, I think he has it in him to be a Top 10 prospect in all of baseball, although that would require plenty of things to break in his favor next season.

 

As for Cashner, he has some of the best pure stuff in the Cubs' system. It's hard not to get excited over a guy like him, especially if he can show he's a good starter.

 

Sleepers: OF Dong-Yub Kim and P Jon Nagel

 

I'm intrigued with what I read about Kim down in instructs. The Cubs forked over six figures for him and apparently he might be a five tool OF. That'd be pretty nice to have. Unless he blows everyone away in spring training, I don't see him starting in full season ball. I'm guessing he'll be in Boise.

 

As for Nagel, I think he's been lost in the shuffle. He has TJS back in 2008 and the Cubs were enormously cautious with him in Boise last season. However, he had pretty nice strikeout numbers to go with a strong groundball rate. I have a pretty good feeling about him next season.

 

Non-Cubs Prospects: SP Stephen Strasburg and C Buster Posey

 

Kind of obvious picks, but I'm really excited to see what they can do in the majors.

[davell]

Of the Cubs questions asked for Sickels, here's his responses so far.

 

Castro could wind up being a 10-15 homer guy, but he's too young to project right now.

 

Lee's upside is a .300 hitter, high OBP, lots of doubles, 10-15 homers, and a stellar glove.(damn, that's pretty good, huh :D ?)

 

As for my question, he said that each of McNutt/Kirk/Antigua/Bristow/Rusin/Searle are all grade C guys(which we already knew). He said McNutt has the best arm and he'd go with him because of that. He then said Kirk and Antigua are better than the rest of those guys.

 

As for Outshined One's question, he dodged it. saying he had nothing to go on from them yet.

[craig]

Using BA's top-30 list:

 

From the top 10, everybody is potentially good enough, and has enough chance to disappoint, that each of the first 6-7 are of premium interest. Any of the front 7 could emerge as premium prospect or a very good big-leaguer right this very year. And any of those front 7 could put in a "Man, why was I so enthused about that guy?" year, too.

 

In the second ten, the three I'm most curious about are Rhee, Dolis, and Antigua, the young pitchers. Young rotation pitchers like that in the teens, with a good year and perhaps a step forward in stuff can come out of the year as a top-5 prospect; or with a blah year can be off the top-30 and be nothing.

 

In the third ten, Raley and Coleman. Again with good years, I think they could be sitting as top-ten prospects not far from a shot at a big-league rotation job. In both cases that will probably require that after an offseason of growth and focus on pitching, that their fastballs step up a bit.

 

I guess I can see that in the top ten, I'm pretty interested in everybody. After the top ten, given that we don't have any HS position prospects after Watkins and Burke, I'm more interested in the could-become-good-starting-pitcher-if-everything-works-out than the could-be-good-utility-player or could-be-usable-reliever type prospects.

[toonsterwu]

I'd say Castro, too.

 

But I'm also very anxious to see Vitters this season. He could do anything from break out to be a huge success to begin a flame out. He's really the only player in the system that you could potentially slot into the #3 or #4 hole for the long-term and be really happy with the production there. The other top offensive prospects are highly ranked because of positional value. Vitters is the only guy we have that could be a real masher in the future.

 

I wouldn't be so quick to write off Brett Jackson and Kyler Burke as possible middle of the order bats. The latter has to improve his slugging against lefties, but if he does, that's a potential big time power bat that has shown discipline. There's some expectation on 20-25 HR power from Brett, and if that happens, if he provides a solid all around offense, that'd be fine as a 3-hole guy for me.

[toonsterwu]

Of the Cubs questions asked for Sickels, here's his responses so far.

 

As for my question, he said that each of McNutt/Kirk/Antigua/Bristow/Rusin/Searle are all grade C guys(which we already knew). He said McNutt has the best arm and he'd go with him because of that. He then said Kirk and Antigua are better than the rest of those guys.

 

As for Outshined One's question, he dodged it. saying he had nothing to go on from them yet.

 

Eh, I think that's underselling Bristow quite a bit. Bristow arguably has the 2nd best arm in the group.

 

I also want to McNutt succeed getting stretched out before jumping on him. It's easy to forget that, after 2008, the scouting report on Dan McDaniel was mid-90's fastball (4-seamer), low 90's 2-seamer, plus curve, decent slider, decent change. Stuff didn't carry over to starting (or maybe he got hurt).

 

I'm also not sure McNutt definitively has a better arm than Bristow. Bristow has a bit more growth potential, and was throwing mid-90's late in the year.

[toonsterwu]

Honestly, if I had to pick one prospect that I'm, for lack of a better term, the most fascinated about in regards to their performance next year, I think I'd pick Justin Bristow. Live arm, another year of health, good athleticism - I really think he could take a major leap next year and be considered one of our system's top arms by year's end.

 

Jon Nagel also fascinates me as another under-the-radar guy, and to be honest, I'm still fascinated by Dan McDaniel a tiny bit (though the reports were bad, I wonder how much the injury played a factor). Tzu-An Wang fascinates me to no end (seems like he has loads of potential).

 

Positionally, there's the standard replies of Castro/Jackson/Vitters. Where Jovan Rosa is, what position he plays, and how he does fascinates me. Some may remember I was quite high on Jovan Rosa (well, those that saw me post over at another site). I still like the bat, although it seems quite clear now that the doubles power he has will never develop into significant HR power. That said, if he can find the old rhythm he had (reports from A+ seemed to suggest he was going for the long ball too much), who knows. Furthermore, if he can stick at catcher ...

 

Rebel Ridling also fascinates me a bit ... partly because of the name. I'm very curious to see if his bat can play at the upper level, though, and he has one asset that our system doesn't have a bunch of - power. I'm still quite intrigued with Wesley Darvill, although not as intrigued after hearing about the arm limitations. That said, here's a kid who has plus speed now, and is expected to develop power. Only problem is, no one expects him to keep that speed while he develops his power. What if he does? There's no guarantees on body projections.

 

There's a few others, but yeah, Bristow would top the list of guys that I am fascinated to follow this upcoming season.

[davell]

We seem to have a log jam of guys we're trying to convert to C......We've heard Rosa, Ha, and I think Brandon May as well. Where in the world are they all going to play?