Top 20 Cubs prospects

[Brock Beauchamp]

One of the features we'll be rolling out with the new site is a prospect tracker. You can see an example here:

 

https://twinsdaily.com/minnesota-twins-top-prospect-rankings/

 

At Twins Daily, the rankings are a composite of writer and community votes. At Brewer Fanatic, the list is entirely driven by the community.

 

I'm not really sure how many prospect hounds you have here so not really sure which approach we'll take with NSBB but the community always gets a say in our rankings.

 

So, Cubs prospect gurus, give me your top 20!

[Tim]

There are some definitely prospect gurus here. I used to think of myself as one, but I haven't had the time to track it that closely for several years.

[Rex Buckingham]

just link to whatever Named After Maddux and the crew at North Side Bound do.

[Tim]

just link to whatever Named After Maddux and the crew at North Side Bound do.

I think there's value in having the crowd opinion, too. But yeah, they do a great job over there.

[Bertz]

I think mine is

 

1. PCA

2. Davis

3. Alcantara

4. Wesneski

5. Wicks

6. Canario

7. Caissie

8. Horton

9. Mervis

10. Hernandez

11. Brown

12. Made

13. Ballesteros

14. Triantos

15. Ferris

16. Kilian

17. Estrada

18. Palencia

19. Amaya

20. Hodge

 

I probably ought to discount Canario more, but my POV is I'm going to wait until he's clearly diminished while back on the field before making the move. Kilian is the guy who I'd be most likely to bump up multiple spots very quickly. If he gets back to throwing strikes I could quickly argue him up to 9 and on the positive side of that tier-break.

[Named After Maddux]

just link to whatever Named After Maddux and the crew at North Side Bound do.

I think there's value in having the crowd opinion, too. But yeah, they do a great job over there.

That’s all extremely kind. I agree with Tim that there’s a ton of benefit in crowd consensus too, especially here for prospects.

[Named After Maddux]

I think mine is

 

1. PCA

2. Davis

3. Alcantara

4. Wesneski

5. Wicks

6. Canario

7. Caissie

8. Horton

9. Mervis

10. Hernandez

11. Brown

12. Made

13. Ballesteros

14. Triantos

15. Ferris

16. Kilian

17. Estrada

18. Palencia

19. Amaya

20. Hodge

 

I probably ought to discount Canario more, but my POV is I'm going to wait until he's clearly diminished while back on the field before making the move. Kilian is the guy who I'd be most likely to bump up multiple spots very quickly. If he gets back to throwing strikes I could quickly argue him up to 9 and on the positive side of that tier-break.

 

I think if you moved the gap to after Alcantara that’s pretty close to exactly what I’d have now, maybe with Cristian a bit higher (though I totally get waiting until he’s actually in full season ball). Good list IMO

[cincycub31]

Certainly not a prospect guru, but I keep track of what's going on. Probably high on Caissie, but I just believe in the overall profile and think he's going to be a solid MLB player.

 

1. PCA CF Elite CF, contact skills, gap power, lead off guy in a few years

2. B. Davis OF Starting OF by end of 2023…contend for spot on opening day.

3. K. Alcantara OF Loads of potential - breakout candidate as he moves up to A+ into more hitter friendly parks?

4. O.Cassie OF Looks the part of big league hitter. He's been challenged a lot as a young player.

5. H. Wesneski SP Nice MLB debut, can he be a solid rotation piece for 2023?

6. C. Hernandez SS Ready for full season ball

7. J. Wicks SP Solid first year - possibly contribute end of 2023 or start of 2024

8. B. Brown SP Probably starting at AA, but could see action in Wrigley if he does well.

9. C. Horton SP Interested to see how his first year goes

10. A. Canario OF Huge year in 2022 - Injury lowers ranking

11. M. Mervis 1B Hedging a little…would have been a 5th round pick in non covid year, so non drafted status is misleading.

12. D. Palencia SP/RP Great velocity, improving secondaries. Can he make the jump to AA? Can he go longer into games?

13. P. Hodge SP A bit under the radar,

14. J. Ferriss SP How soon will we get to see him in full season ball?

15. J. Triantos Inf My guess is he has a great season in A+ ball this year

16. M. Ballesteros C/1B/DH He's a hitter…he's a lefty…he's young

17. DJ Herz SP/RP Really struggled in his jump to AA. Interested in seeing how he adjusts in off season

18. C. Kilian SP Rough 2022…needs to control and command his stuff. If he does he's got a lot of potential!

19. L.Little SP/RP Good peripherals, but needs to go longer into games

20. K. Made SS Struggled at end of year, but showed signs.

 

Next 5 would be would be K.Franklin, L. Devers, E. Howard, Y. Pinango, M. Amaya

[Outshined_One]

8: Hearn C

9: Alcantara

10: Crow-Armstrong

 

 

 

[Tim]

8: Hearn C

9: Alcantara

10: Crow-Armstrong

 

 

You could have started that at #7.

[Tim]

 

 

You could have started that at #7.

 

There’s plenty of same looking rankings out there of low minors Cubs if that’s what yous guys are looking for!

Don't get me wrong. I actually value the different point of view. Specifically around Gallardo, your fanboyism there has made me think about how much I value durability and innings at a young age, results vs scouting info, which elements of the underlying performance matter the most, etc. While I don't agree with your take on a lot of it, I don't mind seeing the different viewpoint.

 

I think it is some of the repetitiveness and how the opinions are expressed that puts me off sometimes (and others, I assume).

[mul21]

 

I think it is some of the repetitiveness and how the opinions are expressed that puts me off sometimes (and others, I assume).

 

For me, it's the certainty with which he speaks on the 180 opposite viewpoints from people who get paid to do this for a living and the follow up dismissiveness when someone questions his thought process. Plus the weird flow of the writing.

[imb]

jesus christ man

[Outshined_One]

I mean, I give credit where it's due for consistency. Some of us fall in love with guys, and there's admittedly a morass of guys in the 5-30 range where you can argue for individual inclusions in the Top 10. I didn't blink at Gallardo at 7 for that reason.

 

However, Hearn at 8 is giving me JR Towles flashbacks. PCA at 10 just strikes me as being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian, particularly given that the writeup referenced him as the most valuable prospect in the organization.

[chopsx9]

I mean, I give credit where it's due for consistency. Some of us fall in love with guys, and there's admittedly a morass of guys in the 5-30 range where you can argue for individual inclusions in the Top 10. I didn't blink at Gallardo at 7 for that reason.

 

However, Hearn at 8 is giving me JR Towles flashbacks. PCA at 10 just strikes me as being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian, particularly given that the writeup referenced him as the most valuable prospect in the organization.

 

Is PCA's floor Kevin Kiermaierish? (who has more career fwar than Aramis) How much worse offensively is PCA than KK right now. I just don't think you put someone with that floor at 10.

[We Got The Whole 9]

I mean, I give credit where it's due for consistency. Some of us fall in love with guys, and there's admittedly a morass of guys in the 5-30 range where you can argue for individual inclusions in the Top 10. I didn't blink at Gallardo at 7 for that reason.

 

However, Hearn at 8 is giving me JR Towles flashbacks. PCA at 10 just strikes me as being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian, particularly given that the writeup referenced him as the most valuable prospect in the organization.

 

Is PCA's floor Kevin Kiermaierish? (who has more career fwar than Aramis) How much worse offensively is PCA than KK right now. I just don't think you put someone with that floor at 10.

 

Neither do any evaluators worth spit that I've seen.

 

Tom has been not-so-subtly downplaying his Future value for the last year.

 

Sent from my motorola one 5G UW using Tapatalk

[Bertz]

Bryan Smith's list he's releasing on Bleacher Nation this week is a very good example of going off the beaten path but with some real logic and rigor behind it. Though even shows some brain worms while writing about Chase Strumpf.

[Tim]

Bryan Smith's list he's releasing on Bleacher Nation this week is a very good example of going off the beaten path but with some real logic and rigor behind it. Though even shows some brain worms while writing about Chase Strumpf.

Yeah, he's putting together a fantastic read overall.

[CubinNY]

I’m looking for big things from Drew Grey. I don’t know where he should be ranked.

[Post Count Padder]

Ooo fun. Here's my incredibly researched take on the top 20

 

Davis

PCA

Alcantara

Wicks

Horton

Wesneski

Christian Hernandez

Canario

Cassie

Palencia

Ben brown

Mervis

Amaya

Made

Killian

Herz

Ferris

Triantos

Howard

Mule (even with the TJS)

[Transmogrified Tiger]

On the BN list, 7 of the Top 10 will start the year at AA or higher by my count. Feels like it's been a while since we could say that.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Anyone else interested in getting their top 20 in? I hope to start work on the prospect tracker next week some time. 

[Tim]

1. Pete Crow-Armstrong
2. Hayden Wesneski
3. Kevin Alcantara
4. Brennen Davis
5. Ben Brown
6. Jordan Wicks
7. Matt Mervis
8. Owen Caissie
9. Daniel Palencia
10. Alexander Canario
11. Cade Horton
12. Christian Hernandez
13. Caleb Kilian
14. Porter Hodge
15. James Triantos
16. Kevin Made
17. Luke Little
18. Miguel Amaya
19. Jackson Ferris
20. Moises Ballesteros
21. Luis Devers
22. Pedro Ramirez
23. Jordan Nwogu
24. Jeremiah Estrada
25. Ed Howard

[Tim]

5 minutes ago, TomtheBombadil said:

Question for all: even before the  (second) shoulder separation by the sounds of it, what kind of ML player is Alex Canario? 

A highly-tooled OF prospect who made massive strides in performance in 2022. One of the top five HR hitters across all of MiLB. 

[craig]

1. Crow-A

2. Alcantara

3. Horton

4. Wezneski

5. Brown

6. Wicks

7. Brennen Davis

8. Mervis

9. Palencia

10. Canario

11. Ferris

12. Caissie

13. Amaya

14. Killian

15. Hodge

16. Hernandez

17. Estrada

18. Luke Little

19. Ed Howard

20 Moises Ballesteros

Luis Devers

Kevin Made

Franklin

Gray

Jensen

Ramirez

Derniche Valdes

Aden Sanchez

Jefferson Rojas

Jordan Nwogu

Triantos

Hearn

Mule

Riley Martin

Bailey Horn

Pinango

Verdugo

Birdsell