4 Chicago Cubs Minor Leaguers Who Deserve a Look in September

[Paul Niemiec]

Image courtesy of © Lily Smith/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Well, well, well. How the turn tables...

The Cubs are six games back of Milwaukee, even after taking 3 of 5 earlier this week. Until this encouraging weekend stint against a hapless Anaheim team, the offense looked a lot like the frustrating second phase of the last core. The bullpen looks old and tired. The rotation is overworked. Winning the division is out of the question at this point. They currently hold the top Wild Card spot, but the margin for error is shrinking as the regular season is well into the last quarter. At this point, the front office's cautious trade deadline approach seems like it was a precursor for the disappointment to come. With rosters set to expand on September 1, the Cubs will need some reinforcements to come up and not only give the regular starters some rest, but perform and (hopefully) bring some life back to the team on a daily basis. Here is a look at four players who could come up and provide a spark—although, of course, not all at once, since the rules now limit teams to 28 players during September, rather than the 40 they used to be able to call up. 

Kevin Alcántara
Still considered the Cubs’ #5 prospect, Alcántara had a cup of coffee with the big-league club in 2024 but is yet to appear in the majors this season. “The Jaguar” currently has a .261/.348/.469 batting line and 16 home runs this season at Triple-A Iowa. A loaded outfield is part of the reason Alcántara has not been able to crack the 26-man roster, but he's also struggled with plate discipline. Over 402 plate appearances, Alcantara has struck out 120 times against 47 walks, which probably won’t get better upon promotion.

Still, he is a quality outfielder with plenty of speed and pop. He would give the Cubs another righty bat off the bench. Encouragingly, after a very rough start this spring, he's batting .267/.356/.517 since May 15. Alcántara is also on the 40 man roster already, so there wouldn’t need to be a corresponding DFA to go along with promoting him.

Jonathon Long
There are a couple of issues with the idea of promoting Long. First, he is not on the 40-man roster, so there would need to be a player cut in order to call him up. The second is that he bats left-handed, and the Cubs are currently giving top prospect Owen Caissie the fourth outfielder/lefty bench bat role. It is hard to ignore what Long has done at Triple A this season, though. He's batting .311/.412/.504, with 19 home runs in under 500 plate appearances. If Caissie is already up, and I am pitching the idea of Alcántara being recalled, Long has to be considered. Long is primarily a first baseman, but has utility appeal, as he has also played third base and left field this season.

Jaxon Wiggins
The Cubs' fourth-best prospect and top pitching prospect, Wiggins began the season in High-A South Bend and has since been promoted to Double-A Knoxville. Across the two levels, Wiggins has a 2.02 ERA with 79 strikeouts across 62 1/3 innings. He has started all but one of his games in 2025, but his potential value to the big-league club for this season would be as a reliever. Wiggins has a fastball that sits in the high 90s, but can also touch triple digits. In a scenario where he is only going one inning at a time, that fastball should hit triple digits more often. This would be a welcome sign for the Cubs, because the current bullpen could use another power arm. Wiggins is not on the 40-man roster, and while management might not want to add him this early, there is a long list of very good starters who first came up in a late-season bullpen role. The big problem with this possibility is that Wiggins has made just one, abbreviated appearance in the minors since June 20. Either the team is hiding him as part of a plan to spring him on the league in October, or the shoulder trouble that cropped up in June was more serious than the team has let on.

Riley Martin
If you haven’t heard of Riley Martin, the pride of Quincy University, you must live under a rock. That was a joke; I'm sure you don’t know who Riley Martin is, unless you are also a writer here at North Side Baseball. The 27-year-old was a sixth-round pick from the 2021 MLB Draft, Martin was never listed on MLB Pipeline's ranking of the Cubs’ top 30 prospects. His 4.42 career ERA in the minors (prior to 2025) is on par for a late-round draft pick, but his 2025 has been a different story.

In 57 innings, Martin has a 2.68 ERA with 72 strikeouts. This is by far the best we have seen Martin look as a professional, and he has definitely earned a shot in the majors. So what if his FIP is a whole run higher than his ERA and his fastball sits in the low 90s? When it comes to relievers, there are always gems hidden in the late rounds of the draft. Sometimes, they toil in the minors for years until they figure it out. Current Cubs reliever Ryan Brasier did not pitch regularly in the majors until he was 30. Bottom line: Martin is a wild card, having the best season of his career. If he hasn't earned it now, he might never, so I personally hope he finds his way to Wrigley in September.

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Unlike in the glory days of Craigtember (when Craig Counsell's Brewers made liberal use of their sudden glut of roster spots in the final month and got famous for kicking out other teams in the sprint to the finish), the small increase in roster size now allowed doesn't let us dream much on a whole different team for the final month of the season. As Counsell has demonstrated by so rarely using Caissie (or even trade acquisition Willi Castro), though, this is a team that believes in their frontline talent to carry them to October. Each of these four players is compelling, because they could play their own interesting roles in an eventual playoff scenario—but that would require some incumbent to get hurt, so for now, they're merely nice-to-have depth. Cubs fans can hope mostly to get these glimpses of the future if there are some blowouts next month, or if the team sews up good playoff position relatively early and can coast through the final week.

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[Jeff Alson]

Long bats right-handed, not left-handed.

[Bertz]

I would guess it's unlikely the team makes a 40 man move at this point.  There's probably some wiggle room for someone Rule 5 eligible in December, like Martin, but I think Long and Wiggins are huge longshots.

I suspect the expanded rosters will be pretty boring.  I think on the pitching front the team will start carrying all three of Assad/Brown/Wicks instead of just 2/3.  And then at some point Soroka will come back and knock one off the roster.

On the position player front it's similar.  I haven't seen anything especially concrete on Amaya's timeline, but I suspect we see one of Alcantara/Ballesteros until they can give way to Amaya.  I suspect the decision on which prospect bat depends on whether the team is comfortable with Ballesteros getting any time at all behind the plate.  He's obviously not going to start a bunch of games but what about in a blowout?

[Named After Maddux]

Sounds like Wiggins very unlikely to be a September option. Riley Martin though, he'd be a guy to watch there. You could mix him in there with some of the SP depth and then Soroka when healthy should be a shorter outing option.

[Jason Ross]

10 minutes ago, Named After Maddux said:

Sounds like Wiggins very unlikely to be a September option. Riley Martin though, he'd be a guy to watch there. You could mix him in there with some of the SP depth and then Soroka when healthy should be a shorter outing option.

Martin remains one of my favorite recent stories. To go from "guy who signed for basically nothing" to "probably going to make an MLB appearance in his life" is super cool. I know I unfairly discounted him on draft day and I know I'm not alone. I love being wrong.

[Named After Maddux]

28 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

Martin remains one of my favorite recent stories. To go from "guy who signed for basically nothing" to "probably going to make an MLB appearance in his life" is super cool. I know I unfairly discounted him on draft day and I know I'm not alone. I love being wrong.

We bonded early because of the pharmacy school aspect and I've just rooted for him ever since so I'll acknowledge the bias there, but I would love to see him earn that 40-man slot this season

[Jason Ross]

1 minute ago, Named After Maddux said:

We bonded early because of the pharmacy school aspect and I've just rooted for him ever since so I'll acknowledge the bias there, but I would love to see him earn that 40-man slot this season

My favorite prospects almost all have a similar underlying current of either: I was super-super high on them on draft day or I super super undersold them. I know I thought the moment they drafted him "Who?' and then reading initial scouting wasn't sold. Being wrong is my favorite thing and he absolutely has been a joy to watch develop. 

I know had I been running an organization at the deadline he'd have been on the top of my "add this guy to sweeten the pot" list and I'd love to see him get a shot with the Cubs. Cool story and profile.