The Top 20 Chicago Cubs Player Assets of 2025: Part 4 (1-5)

[Brandon Glick]

We continue with our list ranking the 20 most important players to the Cubs’ present and future. Finally, we’ll conclude with the five best assets in the entire organization.

Image courtesy of © David Banks-Imagn Images

Our intro post provides a full explanation of the parameters used to develop this list. Still, the short version is this: We're answering the question: Which current players in the organization are most indispensable to fulfilling the vision of building a champion? To rank Cubs players and prospects, I will account for age, contract, controllability, upside, and more. 

I’ll remind everyone that while the 2025 season matters for a Cubs team that should win their division, this ranking is about the future as much as it is about the present. Players with advancing age or waning team control won’t get as much love here as they would in a narrower time frame.

Here’s how the list has shaken out so far in Part 1 (16-20), Part 2 (11-15), and Part 3 (6-10):

20. Luke Little, RP
19. Jordan Wicks, SP
18. Miguel Amaya, C
17. James Triantos, 2B/3B
16. Kyle Tucker, RF
15. Ian Happ, LF
14. Nico Hoerner, 2B
13. Seiya Suzuki, RF/DH
12. Kevin Alcantara, OF
11. Ben Brown, SP
10. Dansby Swanson, SS
9. Jefferson Rojas, SS
8. Michael Busch, 1B
7. Owen Caissie, OF
6. Shota Imanaga, SP

Let’s wrap this exercise up without further ado with the top five player assets in the Cubs organization heading into the 2025 season.

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5. Justin Steele, Starting Pitcher
Opening Day Age: 29
Controlled Through: 2027
Contract Status: Arbitration

By far the most established big leaguer in this top five, Steele would have a legitimate case for No. 1 if he weren’t already on his second year of arbitration (though, as a Super Two player, the Cubs do get him for a fourth arbitration year in 2027). Another issue is that Steele, already 29 years old, is in the thick of his prime right now. Even if he sticks around on an extension, the returns will start diminishing at some point in the next half-decade.

Those are minor concerns in the face of what has truly become a great pitcher. Over the past three seasons, Steele has started 78 games for the Cubs, logging 427.0 innings while working a 3.10 ERA (3.14 FIP). His strikeout rate has remained remarkably consistent, hovering around the 24.5% mark throughout his career, and his ability to limit free passes continues to improve. His ground ball rate (43.0%) did dip to a career-low figure in 2024, though part of that can be chalked up to his nagging injuries. If healthy, Steele should continue to front this rotation for the next three years, if not longer.

4. Matt Shaw, Third Baseman
Opening Day Age: 23
Controlled Through: 2031 (At Least)
Contract Status: Minor Leagues

I’m a little uncomfortable putting Shaw this high, since I don’t know that he’ll be that much better than the league-average third baseman, offensive or defensively, but having a guy who can play both sides of the ball at a consistently high level is eminently valuable, even if he doesn’t evolve into the MVP-caliber player Kris Bryant was in his prime.

Shaw is ostensibly the team’s starting third baseman after dumping Isaac Paredes in the Kyle Tucker trade, barring a stunning move for Alex Bregman. Shaw has done nothing but hit since being taken in the first round of the 2023 MLB Draft, slashing .303/.384/.522 in 693 plate appearances across all levels of the minor leagues. His bat isn’t just advanced — it’s special. He posted a 146 wRC+ as a 22-year-old in Double-A and Triple-A in 2024, hitting 21 home runs in just 443 at-bats, and the gap between his strikeout and walk rate was just over six percentage points. He’s provided no reason to believe that he won’t be a star in the big leagues.

Even if he never develops into anything more than an average defensive third baseman — his best defensive home is probably second base, but for now he’s blocked by Nico Hoerner — his bat should be good enough to make him playable anywhere on the diamond. If his power fully develops, he could be the North Star of the heart of the lineup for the next decade. 

3. Cade Horton, Starting Pitcher
Opening Day Age: 23
Controlled Through: 2031 (At Least)
Contract Status: Minor Leagues

Even after a slightly disappointing 2024 season, Horton is still the most important starting pitcher in the organization, if only because he’s the only one with the potential to turn into the ace-caliber pitcher who can match up with the Corbin Burnes and Paul Skenes of the world.

Since being drafted seventh overall in the 2022 MLB Draft, Horton has flown through the minor league ranks, reaching Triple-A in just his second full professional season. He was promoted from Double-A Tennessee to Triple-A Iowa on April 30 last season, after he posted a 1.10 ERA in four starts with the Smokies, with 18 strikeouts in 16 1/3 innings. Unfortunately, Horton struggled in his month-long stint with the Iowa Cubs, producing a 7.50 ERA in just 18 innings, giving up a worrying amount of home runs and walks in that small sample. A lat injury sent him to the IL in early June, and that’s where he would remain for the remainder of the season.

Health will be key moving forward as Horton has never even sniffed 100 innings pitched in a season, in college or the professional ranks. It may take him a bit longer to reach the majors than originally anticipated, but if the Cubs are going to compete with the National League’s best, they’ll need Horton to live up to his potential.

2. Moises Ballesteros, Catcher
Opening Day Age: 21
Controlled Through: 2031 (At Least)
Contract Status: Minor Leagues

This ranking isn’t necessarily contingent on Ballesteros sticking at catcher — I don’t think he will, long-term — but it would certainly help his case to remain in this top five moving forward.

Regardless, Ballesteros can hit. I mean really hit. My personal comparison for him is Kyle Schwarber (with maybe a little less prodigious power) as a patient hitter who derives a lot of his pop from a thick lower half. He made it to Triple-A as a 20-year-old last season, and though he didn’t dominate the level like he had all previous stops, he still slashed .281/.340/.454 (106 wRC+) with 10 home runs in 68 games in Iowa. His strikeout numbers did increase, but that’s bound to happen to a young hitter as he faces the improved pitching of the upper levels of the minors.

That Ballesteros has been this prolific at the plate despite focusing on being a catcher — a position notorious for its slow-developing offensive traits — should have everyone salivating at the potential in his left-handed bat. He should be a lock as the team’s designated hitter of the future, with any defensive contributions behind the plate serving as a bonus.

1. Pete Crow-Armstrong, Center Fielder
Opening Day Age: 23
Controlled Through: 2030
Contract Status: Pre-Arb

Was it ever going to be anyone else?

Crow-Armstrong is already one of the best defensive center fielders in the game, and he has a legitimate chance to be known as one of the greatest ever with the glove at that position if he sticks around for long enough. His speed (27 steals in 30 attempts) is another carrying tool, and those two qualities alone should ensure that he’s worth more than 3 WAR per season.

Of course, putting a player who just posted a wRC+ of 87 in his first full taste of big league action atop this list might seem a little optimistic, but we know how good PCA was once he adjusted to different levels in the minor leagues. He hit 20 home runs in 500 plate appearances in 2023, and he slammed 15 more in 2024 (10 in the majors). He certainly doesn’t need to be a 25+ homer threat to be a perennial All-Star, but that’s the way things are trending. Don’t forget, he’s still just 23 years old — there’s plenty of time for him to develop into more than just a serviceable hitter.

It’s rare that a player possesses both a very high floor and an astronomical ceiling. PCA is one of those rare players. If anyone is going to single-handedly push the Cubs towards a championship in the next decade, this is the guy.

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With this final installment, these rankings are now complete. In looking it over, do you feel anyone's been unfairly omitted? Any quibbles with the order of the rankings? Any overall thoughts as you assess the organization's current talent landscape? Feel free to sound off in the comments, and thanks for reading!

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