Chicago Cubs 2026 Top Prospect Rankings: #11-15

[Jason Ross]

Image courtesy of © Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

While the Chicago Cubs' minor-league depth has taken a hit with recent graduations and trades, there are still a handful of interesting prospects to be found outside the top 10 names on our list. You can find Part 1 (prospects #16-20) right here.

#15: Will Sanders (Triple-A)

Will Sanders may not be the most exciting prospect in the Cubs' system, but sometimes players like him can fly under the radar because the things they do well don't immediately stand out. Our 15th-ranked prospect is not a stuff monster, nor does he induce a ton of swing-and-miss. What he does offer is steady pitchability and a kitchen-sink approach. Baseball America's scouting report has Sanders sitting 92-94 mph (touching 97) on his fastball, but with below-average shape. Sanders also throws a splitter, a slider, and a curveball. 

The Cubs pitcher of whom Sanders most reminds me is Colin Rea. That's not a bad thing—quite the opposite, really. Rea doesn't overwhelm hitters with stuff, but confuses them by throwing enough pitches that separate themselves to stay one step ahead of his opposition. That's probably the path forward for Sanders: continuing to refine a deep repertoire of good-enough offerings and moving between long relief and the rotation as needed. Those types of arms can be your saving grace in the dog days of a 162-game season. By the end of last season, Cubs fans were clamoring for more Colin Rea. As the team stumbled down the stretch with pitching fatigue and injuries, Rea was ever available, steady and capable. While Sanders may not excite anyone, if he can continue to grow in a similar fashion, he can carve out a long and valuable career. 

#14: Kaleb Wing (Scotts Valley High School)

Kaleb Wing is a different type of pitcher than we've seen the Cubs draft recently: an over-slot, high-upside prep arm. Lanky and projectable, the right-handed pitcher has both stuff and pedigree. He's already hitting 94-96 mph (though sitting 90-92 on average) on the gun as a teenager, and his father pitched in the White Sox organization. 

Wing saw his draft stock soar in the lead up to the draft—enough to impress the Cubs' brass, who gave him a $1.5 million signing bonus. According to BA, Wing already throws four pitches. It'll be interesting to see how the Cubs continue to develop that arsenal.

Wing has yet to make his professional debut, but should see time with Myrtle Beach in 2026. He's probably a year or two away from reaching the upper tier of Cubs prospect lists, but it's clear that the organization likes the pitcher a lot.

#13: Angel Cepeda (Myrtle Beach)

Angel Cepeda had an uneven season with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, but ended the campaign the way you'd hope to see a prospect do so: on fire. Cepeda is another former six-figure international free-agent signing and had a strong year overall, posting a 116 wRC+ in his stop at Low-A, but those numbers bury the lede. Over his final 132 plate appearances, Cepeda posted a blistering 157 wRC+, with a .331 batting average, four home runs, six doubles and two triples. 

Perhaps the best part of that torrid stretch was that the right-handed hitter saw a significant reduction in strikeouts, dropping from a 33.7% strikeout rate before the warm-up to a 26.6% rate after. One of the biggest green-flag indicators a hitter can wave is to make more contact, and Cepeda was able to do that as a 19-year-old in a very tough hitting environment. 

Obviously, there are still things to work on, but Cepeda offers a bit of a projectable frame and the kind of bat that could survive at third base. While he's played a lot of shortstop, it's likely that the 6-foot-1 teenager will eventually have to move off the position as he adds weight. He uses a pretty simple setup at the plate, so if his pitch recognition skills continue to get better, he shouldn't have many flaws mechanically. It shouldn't surprise anyone if, at the end of the season, Cepeda jumps into a lot of internal top-five rankings.

#12: Cole Mathis (Low-A)

Cole Mathis was supposed to be one of the fastest movers from the 2024 Cubs draft class, but sadly, that has not been the case. Mathis had some of the best batted-ball data from his class, and had already shown success in the Cape Cod League with wooden bats, so the hope was that as he transitioned from a two-way player at the College of Charleston, he would take off immediately in pro ball. 

Instead, 2025 was a year where Mathis struggled with injury (as he came off Tommy John surgery) and to be productive in the lineup. While he did post a 121 wRC+ during his time in Myrtle Beach, his .221 batting average left a lot to be desired. Also, when put in the context that Low-A is usually a level college hitters cruise through (Kane Kepley,. the Cubs' 2025 second-round pick whose bat was not considered his calling card, posted a 180 wRC+ there), Mathis just didn't crush the level like you'd have thought he could. This caused Mathis to get some run during the Arizona Fall League, where he posted a more encouraging .280/.439/.400 line—though that was still somewhat lacking in the power department.

The hope with Mathis is that the elbow injury and recovery sapped his power, because the approach was clearly there. Mathis walked 13% of the time at Myrtle Beach and had 15 free passes while in the AFL. If he can show the power that his batted ball data in college suggested he may be able to produce, he can be someone who refills his prospect balloon with helium in the 2026 campaign, If he doesn't show that, however, he'll have to hope his glove improves rapidly at the hot corner.

#11: Brandon Birdsell (Triple-A)

Brandon Birdsell entered the 2025 season with hopes of making his MLB debut, but those were quickly dashed. Despite being a non-roster invitee to camp, he was placed on the 60-day IL before he ever really got going. He was eventually able to get back on the mound in June, pitching a few times in the Complex league and then moving his way up to Iowa, making his season debut at Triple-A in mid-July. Things seemed back on track for the righty, but was again shutdown after a start on August 7. By the end of the month, the team announced the devastating news: Tommy John surgery was on tap for the Cubs' pitching prospect. 

Injury is nothing new to the right handed pitcher, as in 2021, a rotator cuff injury dropped his draft status and Birdsell opted to return to Texas Tech for another year. Prior to this, the righty had Tommy John once prior, requiring the surgery as a sophomore in high school. A long injury history is never a great thing and all of these were reasons the talented pitcher was even available to be selected by the Cubs to begin with.

For 2026, it's pretty unlikely we'll see him take a mound. While it's unknown whether or not he required a full UCL reconstruction or a a brace (similar to Justin Steele), it's probable that 2026 will be a full-on rehab season for the 25-year-old, with the prevailing hope that he can rebound in 2027. Coming back from a second TJS puts his future in doubt; he was never an overpowering guy, but always got results that were better than you'd expect due to a funky delivery. He was a fun, under-the-radar type, but his future now is pretty murky. If he can bounce back with authority, he won't be so old that it'd be impossible for the organization to find a pathway to the majors for him. But he'll have a lot to prove once healthy.

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What do you think of this batch of prospects? Which on is your favorite? Do you think someone missed the cut? Let us know in the comment section below!

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[JunkyardWalrus]

Does drafting more HS arms with Z and such on board make more sense moving forward?

Get the arms while they are fresh and with less miles? Thinking they could sculpt them, so to speak?

[Jason Ross]

43 minutes ago, JunkyardWalrus said:

Does drafting more HS arms with Z and such on board make more sense moving forward?

Get the arms while they are fresh and with less miles? Thinking they could sculpt them, so to speak?

It could. HS prep arms are by far the riskiest thing you can pick due to injury and development. The Cubs had been taking prep arms like JP Wheat, Nazier Mule, etc at times and none of those guys are really hitting. They have moments but they haven't really figured it all out. 

College arms are less malleable in that they don't have as much perceived ceiling but they are at lot closer to what they will be. 

I think with NIL, we're going to see less prep players in general though. Before it was "get paid today, or maybe in three years" where as now it's "I can get paid for three years and then  get paid again". 

[Bertz]

I still like Sanders, I think the insane run environment at Iowa (~4.80 league ERA, and Iowa's a hitters park on top of that) made some normalish promotion lumps look catastrophic.  The fact that he can throw plenty of strikes as well as miss bats in the zone gives you hope there's just an optimization problem at play here.  That said if he can be one of the small army of guys who came to Cubs camp with extra velo this spring that'd be really clutch.  He seems like a guy where the difference between 92.5 and 93.5 would be pretty huge.

Risk around a second TJ is pretty bad.  It's getting slowly better, but I've mostly written Birdsell off as a SP.  He might have a shot as a reliever but I'd probably have Brandon a lot closer to 20th (30th?) than tenth.

Mathis is tough.  On the one hand for a bat-first college hitter you want to see him DESTROY low-A.  Him rocking a 120 wRC+ last April was frankly more disappointing than the HS/IFA kids who were in the 70's and 80's.  On the other the elbow injury feels like a fairly valid excuse: Bryce Harper and Corey Seager are prominent examples of TJ sapping a hitter’s power the first year back.  He was also drafted as a sophomore, so despite the mostly lost year he's going to open at South Bend still at a very appropriate age.

[Jason Ross]

1 hour ago, Bertz said:

I still like Sanders, I think the insane run environment at Iowa (~4.80 league ERA, and Iowa's a hitters park on top of that) made some normalish promotion lumps look catastrophic.  The fact that he can throw plenty of strikes as well as miss bats in the zone gives you hope there's just an optimization problem at play here.  That said if he can be one of the small army of guys who came to Cubs camp with extra velo this spring that'd be really clutch.  He seems like a guy where the difference between 92.5 and 93.5 would be pretty huge.

Risk around a second TJ is pretty bad.  It's getting slowly better, but I've mostly written Birdsell off as a SP.  He might have a shot as a reliever but I'd probably have Brandon a lot closer to 20th (30th?) than tenth.

Mathis is tough.  On the one hand for a bat-first college hitter you want to see him DESTROY low-A.  Him rocking a 120 wRC+ last April was frankly more disappointing than the HS/IFA kids who were in the 70's and 80's.  On the other the elbow injury feels like a fairly valid excuse: Bryce Harper and Corey Seager are prominent examples of TJ sapping a hitter’s power the first year back.  He was also drafted as a sophomore, so despite the mostly lost year he's going to open at South Bend still at a very appropriate age.

Yeah, I have some love for Will Sanders. Really, if he can turn into a Colin Rea who doesn't need to go across the seas to find his spot in baseball, I think that's a great outcome. And not a bad one for him, either. Rea is a useful pitcher on an MLB team and I think one that goes a little underrated either as a member of the rotation or BP. I'm hoping he can make it, he's a fun little arm and I think he's someone who I'd like to see get some run with the Cubs someday

[CubinNY]

On 3/2/2026 at 9:18 AM, Bertz said:

I still like Sanders, I think the insane run environment at Iowa (~4.80 league ERA, and Iowa's a hitters park on top of that) made some normalish promotion lumps look catastrophic.  The fact that he can throw plenty of strikes as well as miss bats in the zone gives you hope there's just an optimization problem at play here.  That said if he can be one of the small army of guys who came to Cubs camp with extra velo this spring that'd be really clutch.  He seems like a guy where the difference between 92.5 and 93.5 would be pretty huge.

Risk around a second TJ is pretty bad.  It's getting slowly better, but I've mostly written Birdsell off as a SP.  He might have a shot as a reliever but I'd probably have Brandon a lot closer to 20th (30th?) than tenth.

Mathis is tough.  On the one hand for a bat-first college hitter you want to see him DESTROY low-A.  Him rocking a 120 wRC+ last April was frankly more disappointing than the HS/IFA kids who were in the 70's and 80's.  On the other the elbow injury feels like a fairly valid excuse: Bryce Harper and Corey Seager are prominent examples of TJ sapping a hitter’s power the first year back.  He was also drafted as a sophomore, so despite the mostly lost year he's going to open at South Bend still at a very appropriate age.

Agree about Birdsell and Mathis. Sanders is likely a middle reliever 

[craig]

No idea on these guys.  Personally I'd rank Wing a little higher, just because I don't have any information that limits his ceiling.  Lots of space to mature and develop, and sometimes the "great athlete" guys tend towards being able to develop control. 

Birdsell wasn't a sure-thing high-ceiling, with the surgery I'd push him back some.  But hopefully he'll recover 100%, and be a genuine big-league prospect again.  

Mathis, hard to guess whether he was every healthy last year, or whether what little we saw of him reflects his future.  Would love to see him get a reset this year, be 100% healthy, have kinda adjusted from low-level college to being in the pros with pro-stuff pitchers, and be a good hitter.  But who knows?  

Cepeda is another who-knows.  Often high-K contact challenged guys just always have it hard, and every promotion is hard.  Had he figured something out late last year?  Or was that a hot streak, and he's due to probably start off with a cold streak?  Would sure love for him to emerge as being legit.  

Sanders also who-knows.  As a strike-thrower, my theory is those guys sometimes are best able to use pitch-lab  type stuff to adjust their stuff, to optimize velocity, to tweak or add new pitches.  He sometimes seemed pretty good on his good days, so I'm not sure his stuff is that badly lacking?  Locate a little better, add some more velo, tweak your offspead, and maybe he'll take another step forward.  Coming back to Iowa will also be his first time repeating a level.  

I'm hoping to see some success from all of the non-Birdsell guys in this group.  Kinda hoping that the Cubs player development system is better than it's ever been, and that a higher % of Cubs prospects will show healthy development than has ever proven true in past Cubs systems.  

Thanks for the writeups, Jason!