2025-2026 Offseason Top Prospects Lists

[Geographyhater8888]

43 minutes ago, Bertz said:

My read is that the team likes Ballesteros more than Caissie, maybe even a lot more.  I'm sure there's a Marlins component to this too, they did essentially trade for him two offseasons in a row.  Caissie is also super similar to Kyle Stowers so they certainly seem to have a type.

For 2026 Mo and Caissie were mostly redundant.  Caissie's glove mainly only would have mattered in the event of a Happ/Suzuki injury, and maybe not even then so much if Shaw takes well to the grass.  After '26 it does suck to lose that ready made Happ replacement, but my guess is corner outfield is easy enough to backfill that the team isn't sweating it too hard.

Bellestaros lacks positional flexibility so I’m guessing Jed likes his higher contact rate relative to Cassie and they’ll give him reps at catcher where his bat will be very useful.

Edited February 17 by Geographyhater8888

[Bertz]

1 hour ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

Bellestaros lacks positional flexibility so I’m guessing Jed likes his higher contact rate relative to Cassie and they’ll give him reps at catcher where his bat will be very useful.

Yeah I hadn't thought too much about the Mo/Caissie decision being about contact vs. power, but it's a good point and the team has almost always chosen contact when forced to choose the last few years.  I'd guess too they have fewer hangups about Mo likely being a Mitch Garver style DH/C/1B type than we do.

[craig]

I think it was 100% Cubs wanting Cabrera and Marlins wanting Caissie.  

I don't think it says anything, 0%, about how the Cubs ranked Caissie versus Moises.  

[JBears79]

2 hours ago, craig said:

I think it was 100% Cubs wanting Cabrera and Marlins wanting Caissie.  

I don't think it says anything, 0%, about how the Cubs ranked Caissie versus Moises.  

I think they view Mo Baller's bat as special. All the reports we have read throughout the past couple years have indicated that they are hesitant to move him in any deal. Plus, if we dont extend Seiya we can replace the DH spot for cheap in the long term with him.

[craig]

Oh, I'm sure they like Moises' bat, not questioning that at all.  I'm just saying that Cubs wanted Cabrera (younger, big-arm, 3 years of club-control) more than Framber Valdez at his age and price.  Cubs wanted Cabrera.  Marlins want Caissie, not Moises.  Trade done.  Guessing that if Marlins had said they'd only trade Cabrera for Moises instead, the Cubs would have traded Moises instead.  

I don't think the trade really says anything about how much the Cubs liked Moises versus Caissie.  One can argue on other grounds which you think they may have preferred.  But I don't think the trade says anything at all about it.  Marlins wanted Caissie, so Cubs gave them Caissie.  Nothing more complicated than that.  

 

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Pipeline Cubs top 30 is out:  https://mlb.com/milb/prospects/2026/cubs/

1. Moisés Ballesteros
2. Jaxon Wiggins 
3. Ethan Conrad
4. Kevin Alcántara
5. Jefferson Rojas
6. Kane Kepley
7. Jonathon Long
8. Josiah Hartshorn
9. Pedro Ramírez
10. James Triantos
11. Owen Ayers
12. Juan Cabada
13. Kaleb Wing
14. Juan Tómas
15. Cole Mathis
16. Dominick Reid
17. Brandon Birdsell
18. Jostin Florentino
19. Jaims Martínez
20. Ariel Armas
21. Brett Bateman
22. Johan Geraldo
23. Erian Rodríguez
24. Luis Martínez-Gómez
25. Ángel Cepeda
26. Ty Southisene
27. Kade Snell
28. Riley Martin
29. Grant Kipp
30. Fernando Cruz

[JBears79]

Hoping for a Cruz breakout this year. I need a low level guy to replace Christian Hernandez now. He needs to stay healthy this season and I can see him having a big developmental year this year. 

[Bertz]

How is this the first I'm hearing about a 3rd Southisene brother named Tee?

Good list, love MLB's thorough writeups.  I'd probably order it so more of the fresh IFAs were in the 20s and the Myrtle Beach crew were in the teens, but what they have is not unreasonable.  

[We Got The Whole 9]

There is absolutely no way Conrad is above a 20 year old SS in AA IMO. It really annoys me how 1st rounders get this auto placement.

[Outshined_One]

1 hour ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

There is absolutely no way Conrad is above a 20 year old SS in AA IMO. It really annoys me how 1st rounders get this auto placement.

He was in consideration for a Top 5 pick pre-injury and apparently made a full recovery.  🤷‍♂️

Don't get me wrong, I'd put Rojas over him right now, but I can imagine a world where Conrad is the #1 prospect in the system midseason even with Rojas having a good year at the plate.

[Jason Ross]

Yeah, I think I can understand why someone may like Conrad. He's going to more likely stick at a premium position where as Rojas is going to most likely move off of it. Rojas isn't coming off a great first look at Double-A either. Looking at recent Cub first rounders from college they've made their way to Double-A quickly, so while Conrad hasn't taken a swing yet, if he follows that pathway, good chance the two intersect there. 

I'd have Rojas above Conrad right now. I also am very encouraged with his swing adjustments. But I also expect there's a good chance by seasons end Conrad is going to be the top prospect in the system by easy consensus. 

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Man we really need Wing or Reid to show something this year 

[Bertz]

17 minutes ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

Man we really need Wing or Reid to show something this year 

Yeah I think there's three ways the lack of pitching in the system doesn't hit a full on crisis by this time next year

1. The widespread velocity spikes we're seeing in big league camp is also happening in minor league camp.  So a bunch of Nick Deans and Ethan Flanagans see their stock rocket up next year

2. We find out that the team nailed the pitching in last year.  The two guys you flagged, Coppola, etc.  

3. The team goes all in on pitching on the next draft.  Something like yhe 2022 draft where 9 of their top 10 picks were pitchers

Honestly you need one of those to avoid a crisis and probably two to actually feel good about the situation.

[Post Count Padder]

I'd have Conrad below Alcantara and Rojas but overall it's not a bad list. We really need some pitchers to step up.

Also I was curious to see what kind of bump Ayers would get from the AFL and there you have it.

[Stratos]

They downgraded Mo's running grade to 20/80 haha.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

[Stratos]

On 3/3/2026 at 11:30 AM, We Got The Whole 9 said:

There is absolutely no way Conrad is above a 20 year old SS in AA IMO. 

Rojas was above Conrad on the previous ranking.  They still have them rated at the same FV so how they rank against one another is pretty arbitrary and meaningless IMO.

[craig]

On 3/3/2026 at 10:30 AM, We Got The Whole 9 said:

There is absolutely no way Conrad is above a 20 year old SS in AA IMO. It really annoys me how 1st rounders get this auto placement.

I'm guessing they kinda roll with their own scouting grades.  For Conrad and Rojas, their grades are the same in four areas, and differ only in power (Conrad 50 over 45 Rojas) and Arm (Rojas wins, 55 to 50).  

Given those grades, I can see the logic in preferring the guy with more power over the guy with more arm.  Power matters more, I think.  

• Hitting 55 same
• Run 50 same
• Defense 50 same
• Overall 50 same
• Arm:  55 Rojas, 50 Conrad
• Power 45 Rojas, 50 Conrad

Logically it makes sense to have your ranking consistent with your grading.  The question, of course, is whether the grading is true.  

• Is the Rojas with his couple of camp HR's and his exit velocity, is 45 power now too low?  The HR from yesterday seems better than 45.  
• Is the better-armed Rojas who plays SS and can presumably relocate to 3rd or 2nd, shouldn't he maybe have a higher defensive score than a corner outfielder?  
• Conrad hasn't faced a pro pitcher yet.  Might his hitting score perhaps end up less than 55?  We shall see.  
• Or, Rojas slugged .205 at Knoxville.  Maybe his hitting 55 is too high?  

My hope is we love them both.  That Rojas shows a bunch of power, and that upscores to 50 or 55; and hits well, still 55; and defends well, gets lifted to 55; and his overall bumps to 55.  He makes his Knoxville disaster last summer look irrelevant.  

Likewise hope that Conrad is 100%, that he looks really good in Center Field and looks like when he moves over to RF that he'll be terrific defensively.  And that he shows 55-60 power, 60 hit, and overall is easily upgraded to a 55 or 60.  

Would be fun to have both of those guy plus Wiggins look like top-30 guys by next fall.  (Wiggins having a great year, but Cubs pitching staying so good and so healthy that he doesn't exhaust his eligibility.).  Fun to dream.  

 

 

[craig]

Owen Ayers at 11 is kinda crazy.  Again, it comes from their scouting grades, some of which are probably faulty.  They've got him with 50 power, so they're scoring him at the same power grade as Conrad, and higher than Rojas.  Even though he never hit more than 8 HR's in a college season or at Myrtle.  I'm kinda skeptical.  

They also give him a 70 arm, wow.  It would be super crazy if an old cat like that could figure out catching fast, and actually show a decent bat.  Would be very fun.  But I'd drop him a whole bunch, skeptical that he'll actually hit.  

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

3 minutes ago, craig said:

Owen Ayers at 11 is kinda crazy.  Again, it comes from their scouting grades, some of which are probably faulty.  They've got him with 50 power, so they're scoring him at the same power grade as Conrad, and higher than Rojas.  Even though he never hit more than 8 HR's in a college season or at Myrtle.  I'm kinda skeptical.  

They also give him a 70 arm, wow.  It would be super crazy if an old cat like that could figure out catching fast, and actually show a decent bat.  Would be very fun.  But I'd drop him a whole bunch, skeptical that he'll actually hit.  

I'm just wondering how aggressive they'll be with his placement given his age. I feel like he needs to start in Knoxville or get there pretty quick.

[craig]

On 3/3/2026 at 9:39 AM, JBears79 said:

Hoping for a Cruz breakout this year. I need a low level guy to replace Christian Hernandez now. He needs to stay healthy this season and I can see him having a big developmental year this year. 

They gave Cruz a 40 hitting score, even though he K'd 47%.  That might be a rather generous grade-inflation score.  But yeah, it would sure be fun if he looked like he could hit some.  Kinda shame that hitting is the one tool you can't live without.  

[craig]

I wonder if pipeline has info from Cubs sources?  For Martinez-Gomez, they say "... may earn him a chance to show what he can do as a starter this year".  And at the end for his possible big-league future, they refer to him as a possible back-end starter.  

Have they gotten that from somebody in Cubs? I just assumed he's pure reliever.  In short relief, his fastball is fast, but in rotation his velocity would decline and his control would be a showstopper.  

Hope I'm wrong, would be fun to see what he could do pitching regularly and getting more innings in rotation.  Even if it was just for a developmental year or two, after which he'd return to relief once/if he approaches the majors.  But call me very surprised if he's starting games this spring.  

Edited March 6 by craig

[allen6510w]

9 hours ago, craig said:

I wonder if pipeline has info from Cubs sources?  For Martinez-Gomez, they say "... may earn him a chance to show what he can do as a starter this year".  And at the end for his possible big-league future, they refer to him as a possible back-end starter.  

Have they gotten that from somebody in Cubs? I just assumed he's pure reliever.  In short relief, his fastball is fast, but in rotation his velocity would decline and his control would be a showstopper.  

Hope I'm wrong, would be fun to see what he could do pitching regularly and getting more innings in rotation.  Even if it was just for a developmental year or two, after which he'd return to relief once/if he approaches the majors.  But call me very surprised if he's starting games this spring.  

Yes, the possibility that Martinez-Gomez could start this year was the most interesting part of his write-up. 

Maybe the following in high-A 

 Or, maybe he'll follow the Koen Moreno path - i.e., 3 inning stints.