Prospect voting complete, thank you for voting!

[Brock Beauchamp]

Thanks to all of you who voted, we had a great turnout this round. We'll be taking this information and applying it to the prospect list in the coming days, keep an eye out for it!

Ranked Prospects

• Cade Horton
• Pete Crow-Armstrong
• Owen Caissie
• Matt Shaw
• Moises Ballesteros
• Ben Brown
• Kevin Alcantara
• Jefferson Rojas
• James Triantos
• Alexander Canario
• Luis Vazquez
• Jaxon Wiggins
• Derniche Valdez
• BJ Murray Jr
• Michael Arias
• Drew Gray
• Cristian Hernandez
• Pedro Ramirez
• Josh Rivera
• Fernando Cruz

[CubinNY]

1. Cade Horton
2. Pete Crow-Armstrong
3. Ben Brown
4. Owen Caissie
5. Moises Ballesteros
   only if he stays at C
6. Matt Shaw
7. Kevin Alcantara
8. James Triantos
9. Jefferson Rojas
10. Luis Vazquez
11. Alexander Canario
12. Drew Gray
13. Josh Rivera
14. Derniche Valdez
15. Haydn McGeary
16. Pedro Ramirez
17. Christian Franklin
18. Michael Arias
19. Pablo Aliendo
20. Jaxon Wiggins

[CornfedCubsFan]

1. Cade Horton
2. Pete Crow-Armstrong
3. Matt Shaw
4. Owen Caissie
5. Kevin Alcantara
6. Ben Brown
7. Moises Ballesteros
8. James Triantos
9. Jefferson Rojas
10. Alexander Canario
11. Jaxon Wiggins
12. Luis Vazquez
13. BJ Murray Jr
14. Josh Rivera
15. Derniche Valdez
16. Haydn McGeary
17. Brennen Davis
18. Michael Arias
19. Cristian Hernandez
20. Drew Gray

[allen6510w]

1. Cade Horton
2. Pete Crow-Armstrong
3. Matt Shaw
4. Owen Caissie
5. Moises Ballesteros
6. Jefferson Rojas
7. Ben Brown
8. Alexander Canario
9. James Triantos
10. Fernando Cruz
11. Kevin Alcantara
12. Michael Arias
13. Pablo Aliendo
14. Porter Hodge
15. Jaxon Wiggins
16. Cristian Hernandez
17. Luis Vazquez
18. Pedro Ramirez
19. Brandon Birdsell
20. Drew Gray

Hopefully, Alfonsin Rosario, Yohendrick Pinango, Nazier Mule, Will Sanders, Derniche Valdez, Brody McCullough and others will continue to push for the top 20. 

[Outshined_One]

1. Pete Crow-Armstrong
2. Cade Horton
3. Matt Shaw
4. Ben Brown
5. Owen Caissie
6. Jefferson Rojas
7. Moises Ballesteros
8. Kevin Alcantara
9. James Triantos
10. Alexander Canario
11. Jaxon Wiggins
12. Derniche Valdez
13. Luis Vazquez
14. Brett Bateman
15. Fernando Cruz
16. Pedro Ramirez
17. Cristian Hernandez
18. Will Sanders
19. Drew Gray
20. Michael Arias

[CaliforniaRaisin]

1. Pete Crow-Armstrong
2. Cade Horton
3. Matt Shaw
4. Owen Caissie
5. Kevin Alcantara
6. Ben Brown
7. Jefferson Rojas
8. Moises Ballesteros
9. James Triantos
10. Luis Vazquez
11. Michael Arias
12. Pablo Aliendo
13. Pedro Ramirez
14. Jaxon Wiggins
15. Drew Gray
16. Brody McCullough
17. BJ Murray Jr
18. Cristian Hernandez
19. Nazier Mule
20. Porter Hodge

I did not vote for Alexander Canario since he has graduated. I would have him 11th otherwise.

[profisme]

1. Pete Crow-Armstrong
2. Cade Horton
3. Owen Caissie
4. Matt Shaw
5. Moises Ballesteros
6. Jefferson Rojas
7. Ben Brown
8. Kevin Alcantara
9. James Triantos
10. Jaxon Wiggins
11. Drew Gray
12. Cristian Hernandez
13. Derniche Valdez
14. Luis Vazquez
15. Brandon Birdsell
16. Josh Rivera
17. BJ Murray Jr
18. Brody McCullough
19. Brennen Davis
20. Michael Arias

[cincycub31]

1. Cade Horton
2. Pete Crow-Armstrong
3. Owen Caissie
4. Matt Shaw
5. Moises Ballesteros
6. Kevin Alcantara
7. Ben Brown
8. Jefferson Rojas
9. James Triantos
10. Pedro Ramirez
11. Jaxon Wiggins
12. Derniche Valdez
13. Fernando Cruz
14. Alexander Canario
15. Drew Gray
16. Christian Franklin
17. Luis Vazquez
18. Nazier Mule
19. Pablo Aliendo
20. Brandon Birdsell

[Bertz]

1. Pete Crow-Armstrong
2. Matt Shaw
3. Cade Horton
4. Owen Caissie
5. Kevin Alcantara
6. Ben Brown
7. Moises Ballesteros
8. James Triantos
9. Jefferson Rojas
10. Alexander Canario
11. Jaxon Wiggins
12. Luis Vazquez
13. Cristian Hernandez
14. Drew Gray
15. Fernando Cruz
16. Michael Arias
17. BJ Murray Jr
18. Brandon Birdsell
19. Michael Carico
20. Brennen Davis

[Tim]

1. Pete Crow-Armstrong
2. Cade Horton
3. Owen Caissie
4. Matt Shaw
5. Ben Brown
6. Kevin Alcantara
7. Moises Ballesteros
8. James Triantos
9. Jefferson Rojas
10. Alexander Canario
11. Luis Vazquez
12. Derniche Valdez
13. Michael Arias
14. Pablo Aliendo
15. Drew Gray
16. Brennen Davis
17. Cristian Hernandez
18. Alfonsin Rosario
19. Pedro Ramirez
20. Jaxon Wiggins

[Gruiben]

1. Cade Horton
2. Pete Crow-Armstrong
3. Owen Caissie
4. Matt Shaw
5. Moises Ballesteros
6. Ben Brown
7. Kevin Alcantara
8. Alexander Canario
9. Jefferson Rojas
10. James Triantos
11. Jaxon Wiggins
12. BJ Murray Jr
13. Luis Vazquez
14. Josh Rivera
15. Derniche Valdez
16. Cristian Hernandez
17. Haydn McGeary
18. Michael Arias
19. Drew Gray
20. Richard Gallardo

[bddavidson]

1. Cade Horton
2. Pete Crow-Armstrong
3. Owen Caissie
4. Matt Shaw
5. Jefferson Rojas
6. Moises Ballesteros
7. Kevin Alcantara
8. Ben Brown
9. James Triantos
10. Alexander Canario
11. Jaxon Wiggins
12. Derniche Valdez
13. BJ Murray Jr
14. Luis Vazquez
15. Brennen Davis
16. Josh Rivera
17. Haydn McGeary
18. Cristian Hernandez
19. Michael Arias
20. Drew Gray

[Rex Buckingham]

1. Cade Horton
2. Pete Crow-Armstrong
3. Owen Caissie
4. Matt Shaw
5. Moises Ballesteros
6. Kevin Alcantara
7. Ben Brown
8. Jefferson Rojas
9. James Triantos
10. Alexander Canario
11. Jaxon Wiggins
12. Derniche Valdez
13. Luis Vazquez
14. Pablo Aliendo
15. Michael Arias
16. BJ Murray Jr
17. Alfonsin Rosario
18. Drew Gray
19. Juan Bello
20. Fernando Cruz

[FairfaxCubs]

1. Pete Crow-Armstrong
2. Cade Horton
3. Owen Caissie
4. Kevin Alcantara
5. Matt Shaw
6. Moises Ballesteros
7. Ben Brown
8. Jefferson Rojas
9. James Triantos
10. BJ Murray Jr
11. Luis Vazquez
12. Alexander Canario
13. Josh Rivera
14. Derniche Valdez
15. Brennen Davis
16. Pablo Aliendo
17. Jaxon Wiggins
18. Cristian Hernandez
19. Michael Arias
20. Alfonsin Rosario

[squally1313]

1. Cade Horton
2. Pete Crow-Armstrong
3. Owen Caissie
4. Ben Brown
5. Matt Shaw
6. Moises Ballesteros
7. James Triantos
8. Jefferson Rojas
9. Kevin Alcantara
10. Alexander Canario
11. Jaxon Wiggins
12. Luis Vazquez
13. BJ Murray Jr
14. Brennen Davis
15. Josh Rivera
16. Derniche Valdez
17. Haydn McGeary
18. Cristian Hernandez
19. Michael Arias
20. Drew Gray

[sneakypower]

1. Cade Horton
2. Owen Caissie
3. Matt Shaw
4. Moises Ballesteros
5. Pete Crow-Armstrong
6. Jefferson Rojas
7. Pedro Ramirez
8. Ben Brown
9. James Triantos
10. Fernando Cruz
11. Kevin Alcantara
12. Cristian Hernandez
13. Luis Vazquez
14. Alfonsin Rosario
15. Jaxon Wiggins
16. Juan Bello
17. Alexander Canario
18. Derniche Valdez
19. Pablo Aliendo
20. Drew Gray

[CUBDOM4life]

1. Cade Horton
2. Pete Crow-Armstrong
3. Owen Caissie
4. Matt Shaw
5. Kevin Alcantara
6. Moises Ballesteros
7. James Triantos
8. Ben Brown
9. Luis Vazquez
10. Jefferson Rojas
11. Alexander Canario
12. Jaxon Wiggins
13. Brennen Davis
14. BJ Murray Jr
15. Josh Rivera
16. Porter Hodge
17. Derniche Valdez
18. Haydn McGeary
19. Cristian Hernandez
20. Michael Arias

[Stratos]

1. Cade Horton
2. Pete Crow-Armstrong
3. Matt Shaw
4. Owen Caissie
5. Kevin Alcantara
6. Ben Brown
7. Moises Ballesteros
8. James Triantos
9. Jefferson Rojas
10. Brennen Davis
11. Michael Arias
12. Alexander Canario
13. Fernando Cruz
14. Drew Gray
15. Luis Vazquez
16. Pedro Ramirez
17. Haydn McGeary
18. Derniche Valdez
19. Pablo Aliendo
20. Cristian Hernandez

[Jason Ross]

McGeary is an interesting guy right now. I think you can make a case on him being in the bottom quarter of a top-20 based on his 2022-2023. He's had a pretty rough 2024. I guess it just depends on if you buy McGeary as broken right now or something under the hood is happening. His swing just feels messed up. 

I didn't have a chance to really think through a top-20 with how busy life has been, and I think he'd have been in the 18-25 range or so in my head. So I think maybe I'd have slipped him in, but probably more likely he wouldn't have made it.

[Jason Ross]

I don't live and die as much as you do on MiLB batted ball data such as GB/FB%. I would agree, he could use a bit of a LA adjustment, but it's not enough for me to just ignore the rest of the package, and probably not others, too. Yes, he's 1b/DH type, and that's going to limit the path to the Major Leagues (and where you'd list him on a top-20!). But he's also posted the right kind of BB:K you'd look for, and the ISO's have been in the ballpark of what you'd want (though I think .180 is right on the low end of that from Double-A standards). So I think there's a few sides to the dice.

Like I said, 2024 has been a rough go for McGeary on the overall season line. When you couple that with the worsening batted ball data, there's something clearly wrong today (even with a recent go that seems better - more on that later). What that is...not super sure as I can't say I've spent what little time I've had the last month on a ton of McGeary PA's. And as stated, I'd probably have left him off a top-20, but I can see an argument for why you'd keep him in the top-20, as well. I'm pretty patient about moving guys up and down, and if you were someone who looked past the GB% as something of a polish, there was enough there that throwing him in the 17-20 range is defensible even with a tough start to 2024.

If there's a positive, he's been better over his last month, posting a 126 wRC+ (though with much worse K numbers than the past and much worse HR numbers). McGeary's first 40 PA's where he had a -27 wRC+ are doing some heavy lifting right now still. It seems like the nosedive is past him, but now the real work comes in, so I think if you thought he was, say, the 18th best prospect in the system, holding serve is probably fine. 

Would I have him 18th or whatever? Probably not, so please, don't think I'm Captain McGeary over here. I'm just saying, I, personally, can buy that argument enough that it's something within reason. If you can't, that's why you have your own list. There's little to no consensus when it comes to such subjectivity. 

[Outshined_One]

As mentioned elsewhere, putting together this list from 11-20 was entertaining.  The Cubs have a really fun mix of guys right now who fit whatever your prospect needs may fancy, whether it's low ceiling/low floor types like Bateman and Vazquez, lottery tickets like Cruz and Valdez, fallen stars who could rebound (?) like Davis and Hernandez, and weirdass profile guys who could break the mold like Ramirez and Aliendo, and that's just hitters!

If we omit PCA and Canario due to graduations and did this today, I'd probably nudge Davis and Murray onto my list, drop Sanders in favor of Birdsell, and tinker with spots 8-20.

[Jason Ross]

1 minute ago, Outshined_One said:

As mentioned elsewhere, putting together this list from 11-20 was entertaining.  The Cubs have a really fun mix of guys right now who fit whatever your prospect needs may fancy, whether it's low ceiling/low floor types like Bateman and Vazquez, lottery tickets like Cruz and Valdez, fallen stars who could rebound (?) like Davis and Hernandez, and weirdass profile guys who could break the mold like Ramirez and Aliendo, and that's just hitters!

If we omit PCA and Canario due to graduations and did this today, I'd probably nudge Davis and Murray onto my list, drop Sanders in favor of Birdsell, and tinker with spots 8-20.

Yeah the Cubs system is in a ton of flux right now. There's a clear...like 8 guys who are all really good and two or three of them are about to fall off due to graduation. The lower levels are pretty foggy right now, so there's probably like 20 guys you could list between 11-20 and all I could do is shrug and say "Might not be my 10, but it's defensible!"

[Outshined_One]

15 minutes ago, 1908_Cubs said:

Yeah the Cubs system is in a ton of flux right now. There's a clear...like 8 guys who are all really good and two or three of them are about to fall off due to graduation. The lower levels are pretty foggy right now, so there's probably like 20 guys you could list between 11-20 and all I could do is shrug and say "Might not be my 10, but it's defensible!"

Pretty much, but I would add one addendum, though.  This isn't like the stretch from 2008 - 2012 when you could name off a handful of guys for the top spots, and then commence throwing darts in the hopes that you find a guy who maybe could get called up for a cup of coffee some day.

The Cubs actually feel like they have quality depth in the low minors this time, and it's a great feeling!  You can see the development paths and possible worlds in which guys like Cruz or Wiggins are vying for the #1 prospect in the system and a spot in MLB's Top 20 prospect lists by opening day 2026.

[Jason Ross]

Just now, Outshined_One said:

Pretty much, but I would add one addendum, though.  This isn't like the stretch from 2008 - 2012 when you could name off a handful of guys for the top spots, and then commence throwing darts in the hopes that you find a guy who [i]maybe[/i] could get called up for a cup of coffee some day.

The Cubs actually feel like they have quality depth in the low minors this time, and it's a great feeling!  You can see the development paths and possible worlds in which guys like Cruz or Wiggins are vying for the #1 prospect in the system and a spot in MLB's Top 20 prospect lists by opening day 2026.

Oh, fully. I didn't mean to seem like there were 20 guys where it was "horsefeathers it" territory. There are like 20 guys who have legitimate MLB upside in some fashion. I meant more in the terms of "right now, they're all so close in terms of warts, age, potential..." that this next group is homogenous enough that I could have a guy at 27, and you could have him at 12 and I think we'd both be justified in it. And regardless of him being 12th or 27th, I think we'd both agree that there was some level of MLB upside there. 

[CubinNY]

I'm pretty solid here

1. Cade Horton
2. Pete Crow-Armstrong
3. Ben Brown
4. Owen Caissie
5. Moises Ballesteros
   only if he stays at C
6. Matt Shaw
7. Kevin Alcantara
8. James Triantos
9. Jefferson Rojas
10. Luis Vazquez
11. Alexander Canario

The rest are interchangeable and there are probably 15 guys for 9 spots that are all about the same but different. Like one slider is high, one is low and one is mid for whatever skill set they have. A lot of volatility and a lot of relying on others because I haven't seen them play or know the numbers well.