Get to Know These New Cubs Top Prospects

[Jason Ross]

Image courtesy of © Anne-Marie Caruso/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK

Our North Side Baseball users have spoken! In our most recent run of fan voting, there has been a bit of reshuffling in our consensus Cubs top-20 list. To see the entire list, check out the results of our fan voting. Many of our users provided small write-ups for each prospect. If you're so inclined, I have my list and quick write-up detailing how I see the system currently. If you missed out on this round, that's okay; create a new account and pay attention when we once again update our consensus list this summer. 

There was some change at the top, with Cade Horton supplanting Matt Shaw, and some other minor movers in the list. The biggest change in our new round of voting, we welcome four new members in our top-20: first baseman Cole Mathis at #11, outfielders Christian Franklin and Ivan Brethowr, #13 and #15 respectively, and pitcher Nazier Mule at the #16 spot. Each is an interesting prospect and offers major league upside. There's no better way to welcome each prospect than a quick, "get to know you" bit, so let's officially welcome all four:

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#11 Cole Mathis, 1B/DH, Myrtle Beach Pelicans
.211/.317/.411  23.1 K%, 11.5 BB%, 112 wRC+, 7 2B, 1  3B, 4 HR

Cole Mathis was drafted out of the College of Charleston and was a second-round selection in the 2024 Amateur Draft. He was heralded for his strong batted ball data, boasting some of the better exit velocities and contact rates in the draft. One of the other big positives is that he was a standout in the Cape Cod Wood Bat Summer League, a sign that he could make the jump in competition more seamlessly. 

Not everything was perfect, however, as he did have a few flags. The first was that coming out of the College of Charleston meant that Mathis did not face the strongest of competition on a daily basis. This is partially why his Cape performance matters; the best college prospects tend to end up there yearly, so this was mitigated. The other issue was that Mathis, a two-way player, would require Tommy John surgery to repair his elbow from his time on the mound. While TJS is less devastating for a position player, it would slow his progress down at the start.

So far, Mathis has gotten off to a somewhat tepid start. Myrtle Beach is a particularly strong pitching environment, so typically, a 112 wRC+ would be pretty good for a first-year-drafted player. Mathis, however, was tabbed as a quick mover and an advanced bat. It's fair to point to the injury and that the hitter will be fine as the weather warms up. I'm not overly concerned, but Mathis would tear through Low-A in a perfect world. Instead, it looks like it'll take a few months instead of a few weeks. That's okay! The upside here is still an MLB hitter with a strong feel for the strike zone and 25+ home run power. 

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# 13 Christian Franklin, OF, Iowa Cubs
.194/.325/.316  20.5 K%, 14.5 BB%, 75 wRC+, 6 2B, 2 HR

The current line on Christian Franklin isn't pretty, but a lot of this is due to a recent cold spell in which, over his last 44 plate appearances, Franklin has a .091 batting average, a .121 BABIP, and a wRC+ in the negatives. Through his first 54 PAs, however, the outfielder looked like a Statcast darling, with a 141 wRC+ and much-improved exit velocity. It even prompted me to write a full article detailing the improvements.  I think this is just a bad run of games, as Franklin has been successful everywhere he's played prior.

Christian Franklin was a third-round selection back in 2021 out of Arkansas. So far, with the Cubs, he's turned in yeoman work, overshadowed mainly by Owen Caissie and Kevin Alcantara in the outfield. Still, his results have always been there, as he's most recently posted a 134 wRC+ with the Cubs' Double-A affiliate just last year. He's a strong enough defender to play across the outfield, making his numbers a bit more impressive due to his versatility.

One of Franklin's hallmarks is his excellent approach. While he's not entirely immune to strikeouts, such as Nico Hoerner, he has sat around the 20% strikeout-rate territory for much of his career, which is quite good! The knocks on him have always been "does he hit the ball far enough?" and "can he hit the ball in the air often enough?". The hope is that with some recent mechanical changes, the exit velocity and the power he showed off early will re-appear despite the two-plus bad weeks. Franklin will probably play Major League Baseball, but whether he's an organizational depth player, a fourth 4th-outfielder, or a low-end starter will likely depend on the power output and the amount of ground balls he hits.

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#15 Ivan Brethowr, OF, South Bend Cubs
.293/.453/.439  25.5 K%, 17.9 BB%, 159 wRC+, 3 2B, 3 HR

Ivan Brethowr has come a long way since he was drafted in the seventh round last summer. Brethowr was a star outfielder at UC Santa Barbara, using his imposing 6"6 frame to hit the lights out of baseballs. There was a problem, however; his swing was just not good. Equal parts long and overly contrived, the concern with the towering giant was whether or not he would ever make enough contact to get to the power. In his first taste of professional baseball, the answer was: he was not, as he struck out 26 times in 95 plate appearances while playing at Low-A. 

Entering the year, Brethowr showed improved mechanics, overhauling his stance. I brought up his mechanical improvements back in February in a game he played during Spring Training, and he's continued to look very good at the plate. The strikeouts remain in check, the walk rate is through the roof, and he's chipping in seven stolen bases to boot. 

There's still a bit to go, however. Despite the size, the exit velocities have been only "alright," he's not getting to the power as often as you'd like. You're hoping that he's still learning a new stance and how to make the best of it, and as he's already shown a quick ability to adapt and accept coaching, it's easy to dream of the outcomes. It's probably not an Aaron Judge ceiling, but we're all winners if the Cubs get anything close to an MLB player out of a seventh-round pick. 

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#16, Nazier Mule, SP, Myrtle Beach Pelicans
2.25 ERA, 3.48 FIP, 4.19 xFIP, 26.2 K%, 11.9 BB% 

Nazier Mule was another more recent draft pick, selected in the fourth round of the 2022 draft. Initially, like Cole Mathis, Mule was a two-way player. The path to the Show for Nazier always seemed like it would be on the mound, though, there was some early rumbling that the Cubs would allow Mule to hit some. This never materialized. Sadly for Mule and the Cubs, there would be one more thing he and Mathis had in common: early-Cubs-career Tommy John surgery. He would miss the entirety of 2023.

The electric pitcher would work back through the 2024 season to middling results. The stuff looked strong, but Mule had less-than-ideal control, walking about as many people as he struck out. One of the biggest concerns was that while Mule had great stuff, he could not create a swing-and-miss.

Things have gotten much better for the righty this year, as he's seen his walk rate drop and his K-rate jump. From an "eye-test" perspective, he also looks much more composed and in control on the mound. Some hoped that Mule could pull a Tink Hence. Hence, a young pitching prospect with the Cardinals had a similar build and, in his second year, took a jump as a pitching prospect. Mule might not be as good as Hence, who's arguably the Cardinal's best prospect currently, but has enough juice to have an MLB starter upside with some back-end-bullpen capabilities if the control never gets fully better. He's a fun, live arm. 

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Which of these four prospects are you most excited about? Have you been following them yourselves? Let us know in the comment section below!

 

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