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Prospect Voting, End of Season 2023

Brock Beauchamp

By Brock Beauchamp,
in Cubs Minor League Talk

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Outshined_One Cooperstown

Outshined_One

Community Moderator
Posted
Posted
  1. Pete Crow-Armstrong
    Not worried about his struggles in the majors; the defense and speed are there and the hits will come.
  2. Cade Horton
    He ticked every box you'd want out of a high level SP prospect, just has to stay healthy and build up his stamina.
  3. Matt Shaw
    Wasn't a huge fan of the pick in the draft, but his bat is going to play anywhere on the diamond; it's just a question of where.
  4. Jordan Wicks
    He was called up out of need, and he met the challenge. Needs a bit more refinement, but he could be a rotation fixture for years.
  5. Owen Caissie
    The power is there and the profile is exciting. but the Cubs don't have a great history of developing these sorts of guys. Might be better off as trade bait.
  6. Kevin Alcantara
    See Owen Caissie, albeit with injury concerns and more athleticism.
  7. Ben Brown
    The end of season injury was a bummer, but I see him as the Cubs' closer by the end of 2024.
  8. Jackson Ferris
    Possibly the highest ceiling arm in the system? He needs to stay healthy and work on his command/control, but he could be a Top 10 MLB Prospect this time next season.
  9. Moises Ballesteros
    The bat is there, but can he stick at C and maintain a healthy weight?
  10. Alexander Canario
    His MLB callup has been a bit strange, but the power is there and the potential is there, but he might be better off on another team as trade bait.
  11. James Triantos
    This is where my list starts to get muddled. The potential is there, but I'm also getting serious Chase Strumpf vibes if he doesn't start to show elite tools.
  12. Jefferson Rojas
    The intrigue is there and he held his own in Carolina. Just a matter of whether he can hit.
  13. Josh Rivera
    He'll need to prove himself every step of the way, but I'm curious to see how he shows out in 2024.
  14. Luis Vazquez
    I can't say I was expecting this, but he looks like he could be a useful utility guy in the majors, at worst.
  15. BJ Murray Jr
    A strong season at AA, but his value depends on whether he can effectively pick it at 3B.
  16. Richard Gallardo
    Shame about the injury, but he looks like a potential workhorse.
  17. Derniche Valdez
    Excited to see him stateside and in full season ball, but holding back on the excitement for now.
  18. Matt Mervis
    His year was a mixed bag, at best. His callup went poorly, but he showed out at AAA. Another prime trade candidate?
  19. Daniel Palencia
    The stuff is there, it's just a matter of harnessing it.
  20. Brennen Davis
    I sincerely hope he is 100% healthy and hits his way onto the Cubs in Spring Training. It's a shame, and the potential is there, but the injuries are just rough.
CaliforniaRaisin GOAT

CaliforniaRaisin

Community Moderator
Posted
Posted
  1. Pete Crow-Armstrong
  2. Cade Horton
  3. Kevin Alcantara
  4. Matt Shaw
  5. Owen Caissie
  6. Jordan Wicks
  7. Ben Brown
  8. Moises Ballesteros
  9. Jackson Ferris
  10. Jefferson Rojas
  11. James Triantos
  12. Alexander Canario
  13. Matt Mervis
  14. Luis Vazquez
  15. BJ Murray Jr
  16. Luke Little
  17. Michael Arias
  18. Josh Rivera
  19. Cristian Hernandez
  20. Christian Franklin

Daniel Palencia (and Jeremiah Estrada) graduated; otherwise, I would have had Palencia at 15. 

I dropped Arias slightly to hedge against the risk of possibly needing surgery after he left the last game of the season with an apparent injury.

allen6510w College Ball

allen6510w

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted (edited)
  1. Pete Crow-Armstrong
  2. Cade Horton
  3. Matt Shaw
  4. Owen Caissie
  5. Kevin Alcantara
  6. Ben Brown
  7. Jordan Wicks
  8. Jackson Ferris
  9. Matt Mervis
  10. Moises Ballesteros
  11. James Triantos
  12. Alexander Canario
  13. Jefferson Rojas
  14. Brennen Davis
  15. Cristian Hernandez
  16. Daniel Palencia
  17. Jaxon Wiggins
  18. Josh Rivera
  19. Haydn McGeary
  20. Derniche Valdez

Pablo Alíendo, Derniche Valdez, Luis Vazquez, Jaxon Wiggins, and Josh Rivera (21-25)

Porter Hodge, Haydn McGeary, Pedro Ramirez, Caleb Killian, and Cristian Hernandez (26-30)

31-41 includes Kohl Franklin, Will Sanders, Nazier Mule, Koen Moreno, Christian Franklin,

Alexis Hernandez, Ludwig Espinoza, Ezequiel Pagan, Christopher Paciolla, Brody McCullough, & Yonathan Perlaza

 

oops.  Not sure what I did here but I meant to order my list: PCA, Horton, Shaw, Caissie, Wicks, Alcantara, Ferris, Brown, Ballesteros, Canario, Rojas, Triantos, Little, Palencia, Murray, Gray, Mervis, Gallardo, Arias, Birdsell, Aliendo, Valdez, etc. 

Edited by allen6510w
Error
CubinNY MVP

CubinNY

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted

A lot of us buying into Caissie as a top 5 prospect. I'm not there, but I'm also not that bright. The strikeouts worry me. I remember Tyler Colvin who I thought was a no-doubt 10-year professional with a few all-star appearances. Wiser people looked at his k rate and were down on him. Maybe it's a different era and I haven't caught up.

Transmogrified Tiger All-Star

Transmogrified Tiger

Community Moderator
Posted
Posted
13 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

A lot of us buying into Caissie as a top 5 prospect. I'm not there, but I'm also not that bright. The strikeouts worry me. I remember Tyler Colvin who I thought was a no-doubt 10-year professional with a few all-star appearances. Wiser people looked at his k rate and were down on him. Maybe it's a different era and I haven't caught up.

I don't think Colvin is a particularly great comparison.  It's a different era, but even considering that Colvin's K rate wasn't as relatively high, and he hit for decent average in the minor leagues.  In hindsight, Colvin's biggest problem is that he wasn't standout in any one area, and the rising quality in the high minors washed him out(though he did have two seasons and 800 PA of a 113 wRC+). 

That's not to say that you're wrong to worry (worrie?) about Caissie, the K rate is a big concern and his ability to make enough contact will likely be the difference in him making it as a big leaguer or not.  He's unlikely to add any defensive value so the offensive bar is going to be very high.  That said, the case for optimism with Caissie is three fold in my mind.

  1. He does the things you need to do to survive with a high K rate, namely hit the bejeezus out of the ball when you do hit it
  2. His age relative to level gives hope for further improvement/refinement even though he was an excellent hitter for AA regardless of age
  3. His K rate improved almost every month of the season, and especially after AA stopped using the pre-tacked ball.  If they hadn't done that experiment it's possible his season K rate is 5% lower and OPS even higher and we view that risk in a different light
  • Like 3
Outshined_One Cooperstown

Outshined_One

Community Moderator
Posted
Posted
On 10/7/2023 at 4:17 PM, TomtheBombadil said:

3: 4: Murray Jr. - Impressive, well rounded upper minors breakout from a relatively inexperienced player. Bat first 3B who can also pick it at 1B

I don't think any of us predicted that you thought Murray was so good that he deserved two spots on the list, yet here we are.

Also, I toyed with putting Wicks higher based on his ML results (decided against it because I'm pretty set on PCA-Horton-Shaw as the system's Top 3 since I think you can make a really good case for all three being Top 50 prospects in MLB), so I actually dig that you put him #1 overall on your list.

  • Like 1

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