Chicago Cubs 2026 Top Prospects, No. 7: Pedro Ramirez

[Cory Sparks]

Image courtesy of © Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

North Side Baseball's top 20 Chicago Cubs prospects list has reached the top seven. To keep up with our deep dives on the brightest rising talents in the farm system, see the articles below:

• Prospects #20-16

• Prospects #15-11

• Prospect #10 - James Triantos

• Prospect #9 - Josiah Hartshorn

• Prospect #8 - Kane Kepley

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Chicago Cubs 2026 Top Prospects: Pedro Ramirez

Coming Up With Moises Ballesteros

Chicago found two high-level hitters out of a Venezuelan baseball program in 2021. Cubs top prospect Moisés Ballesteros has gained a lot of attention, especially since his impressive debut last year. The powerful backstop inked a $1.2 million contract before exploding onto the scene. Ramirez was the other of the two talented hitting prospects from Alvaro Diaz’s training program; he signed for $75,000.

Fast-forward to today, and the versatile infield prospect has played in over 400 minor league games as a contact hitter with plus speed on the base paths. The 21-year-old switch-hitter has gained plenty of attention during his ascension, getting a Southern League All-Star nod and earning a slot with the big-league club’s 40-man roster.

Strengths

Ramirez has a very similar prospect profile to Jefferson Rojas. Both are smaller, compact and have the potential to develop as base-stealers. At 5-foot-9, 165 pounds, the Dominican Republic native has logged a .291 career batting average, better than that of Rojas. He has also leaned into his natural speed, stealing at least 15 bases in three of the last four seasons. 

Another strength of Ramirez’s is his experience. In a day and age where fans (and some league executives) itch to accelerate a player’s development, Ramirez has now taken 1,700 professional at-bats. When he does finally get the call, he’ll have plenty of data to work from.

Weaknesses

Ramirez doesn’t have a ton of power, and his hand-eye coordination almost works against him at times. Chicago’s rising infielder, according to his MLB.com scouting report, is able to make contact with pitches tailing out of the zone. What could be a walk turns into a weak dribbler, and sometimes double-play trouble when there are already runners on base. One of his main priorities will be learning which pitches to let go, even if he’s able to get to them.

2025 Performance

Ramirez enjoyed one of his best seasons yet in 2025. Knoxville Smokies fans were treated to a .280 batting average and career-highs in home runs (8), runs batted in (73) and stolen bases (28). To this point, Ramirez is yet to strike out 100 times in a full season, showcasing above-average contact abilities.

He has a better eye from the right side of the plate, but every one of his 12 home runs in the last two seasons have come from the left side. 

The Cubs did add Ramirez to their 40-man roster at the tender deadline in 2025, therefore keeping Ramirez away from Rule 5 Draft eligibility. Players who are signed at age 18 or younger need to be added to the 40-man within five years, and Ramirez was on the brink of qualifying before the Cubs made this move in November. 

Projecting His Call-Up

Ramirez is the highest rated third baseman in the Cubs’ pipeline, but with three-time all-star Alex Bregman inking a five-year deal over the offseason, the Venezuela native will need to move off of the hot corner if he wants a realistic chance at playing up. Even if Bregman were to go down, Matt Shaw’s glove was more than capable at third base last year, and Shaw is working on shifting to the outfield to salvage his own big league playing time.

Ramirez has an ETA of 2026, but he’ll have to battle with reserves for the first spot behind established names like Bregman and Nico Hoerner. His switch-hitting ability and bat-to-ball skills are admirable, and with Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki both facing contract years, don’t rule out a possible shift to the outfield corners if the Cubs really want Ramirez in their future plans.

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[JunkyardWalrus]

Last standing from the Darvish trade?

[NorthsideAvenger]

16 minutes ago, JunkyardWalrus said:

Last standing from the Darvish trade?

He wasn't part of the Darvish trade.

[Jason Ross]

57 minutes ago, JunkyardWalrus said:

Last standing from the Darvish trade?

Nope. Ramirez wasn't in that trade. Reggie Preciado is our last standing prospect from that trade. Sadly he is 22 and posted a 72 wRC+ in South Bend. 

[Outshined_One]

That's impressive; a Dominican Republic native who was signed out of Venezuela.

 

 

[Rcal10]

28 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

Nope. Ramirez wasn't in that trade. Reggie Preciado is our last standing prospect from that trade. Sadly he is 22 and posted a 72 wRC+ in South Bend. 

That is sad. But they turned Cassie into Cabrera. So that isn’t so bad. 

[Jason Ross]

Just now, Rcal10 said:

That is sad. But they turned Cassie into Cabrera. So that isn’t so bad. 

Yep. Trade worked out in the end for the Cubs. They traded Darvish, ended up with 4 lottery tickets and one of them turned into three years of Edward Cabrera. That's probably the best possible outcome for a group of four teenagers you could ask for,

[We Got The Whole 9]

He has power, as demonstrated with a 113 EV this spring. Gotta see if they can coax some loft. I think only Seiya hit 113 on the Cubs last year. I think Ramirez will end up being traded ultimately, but hes caught some eyes during his ST performance. 

[Bertz]

Jefferson Rojas has been the biggest positive surprise out of camp by a healthy margin.  But Pedro has been #2 and he's got a healthy lead on #3.

The power this spring looks like it's grown into being probably average-ish, but that's way better than what I was expecting coming into the spring.  This is a guy with plus defense, plus plate discipline, and plus contact ability.  Those pluses with 5-10 dong power is a quality bench guy or second division starter.  With 15+ homer power?  Now we're talking about a quality starter.  Need to make sure he can keep the groundballs in check, and that the new power doesn't have a major contact tradeoff (it hasn't this spring), but it's exciting.

[JunkyardWalrus]

3 hours ago, Jason Ross said:

Nope. Ramirez wasn't in that trade. Reggie Preciado is our last standing prospect from that trade. Sadly he is 22 and posted a 72 wRC+ in South Bend. 

That’s who I was thinking of. Not sure how I conflated the two.

[JunkyardWalrus]

2 hours ago, Bertz said:

Jefferson Rojas has been the biggest positive surprise out of camp by a healthy margin.  But Pedro has been #2 and he's got a healthy lead on #3.

The power this spring looks like it's grown into being probably average-ish, but that's way better than what I was expecting coming into the spring.  This is a guy with plus defense, plus plate discipline, and plus contact ability.  Those pluses with 5-10 dong power is a quality bench guy or second division starter.  With 15+ homer power?  Now we're talking about a quality starter.  Need to make sure he can keep the groundballs in check, and that the new power doesn't have a major contact tradeoff (it hasn't this spring), but it's exciting.

Is there a #3?

[Jason Ross]

7 minutes ago, JunkyardWalrus said:

Is there a #3?

I like Triantos swing this offseason. I see a bit more loft. I see a bit different hand placement. Had some good contact. 

Could maybe also get some of the velo guys in there. 

[Bertz]

5 minutes ago, JunkyardWalrus said:

Is there a #3?

Probably one of the pitchers whose velo is way up?  Shota comes to mind first but Assad, Brown, and Roberts are all up to a notable degree as well.

On the position player side maybe Carlson or Triantos?

[Jason Ross]

5 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Probably one of the pitchers whose velo is way up?  Shota comes to mind first but Assad, Brown, and Roberts are all up to a notable degree as well.

On the position player side maybe Carlson or Triantos?

[We Got The Whole 9]

Kepley would be 3 for me. 

[Bertz]

Oh you know who else deserves a mention is Mo Baller.  He's been catching a bunch and I find myself barely even noticing him behind the plate.  Considering the discourse, "I forgot he was back there" is a win IMO.

[CubinNY]

You guys need to fix Kelley write up it’s on the front page and not able to comment. If I do have one is that he’s about the most likely player in all the minors to be traded. 
 

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

4 hours ago, JunkyardWalrus said:

Is there a #3?

Amongst minor leaguers, it's got to be Kepler or Hartshorn (playing well in big league spring training games before even making his professional debut).

[JunkyardWalrus]

Yeah, Kepley and Harshorn are fun. 

Would be nice to have some draft picks turn out. Looking back at their first rounders the past decade is pretty abysmal until the last few years. 

It would be nice if Alcantara could ever figure out how to not look lost in a batter’s box. 

[Gjfificifjdej]

10 hours ago, JunkyardWalrus said:

Yeah, Kepley and Harshorn are fun. 

Would be nice to have some draft picks turn out. Looking back at their first rounders the past decade is pretty abysmal until the last few years. 

It would be nice if Alcantara could ever figure out how to not look lost in a batter’s box. 

Alcantara just completely yard sales his bat twice against LA 😐

[craig]

22 hours ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

He has power, as demonstrated with a 113 EV this spring. Gotta see if they can coax some loft. I think only Seiya hit 113 on the Cubs last year. I think Ramirez will end up being traded ultimately, but hes caught some eyes during his ST performance. 

Having both the physical power, and being able to turn it into some game slug, is key as everybody has said.  I remain guardedly hopeful, but somewhat skeptical.  Skeptic me:  Last year out of 140 hits, 107 of them were singles.  When <24% of hits go for extra bases, that's pretty extreme, and seems variably unlikely to change.  Probably kinda is who he is.  

Optimist me: 

1. Good contact hitters are sometimes best able to adapt their swings to get more out of it. 
2. That can hypothetically take time?  When you're younger and not as strong, it doesn't make a lot of sense to loft much in order to hit fly-balls that come down short of the wall.  So maybe younger guy take an approach appropriate to his young lack-of-power?  Only when you later grow into HR power does it make sense to adjust and situationally swing for more loft.  
3. Optimist-me has these same hopes for each of Triantos, Kepley, and Southisene.  
4. Knoxville was not slug-friendly, so that may factor too?  
5. Madrigal was an all-singles guy too, but OFers played him super shallow it became hard to locate singles.  But if Pedro has some strength/power, then even if he doesn't loft and clear the wall much for HR, just being able to hit the ball hard might keep the outfielders honest so he can use the whole OF for BIP-hits?
6. I don't know what he looked like before.  But in spring training TV, he looks pretty muscular and thick.  He is not a twig like Aramis Ademan or Reginald Preciado.  Just physique-wise, no reason why he couldn't have some power.  (Obviously short levers provide some limits.).  

I'm so unaccustomed to the Cubs D+D actually developing hitters super well.  Would be fun to see him mature into a guy with enough slug to make it work.  As noted by others, getting up to 10HR's changes a guy, and 15 could change into a starter profile.  

I'm pretty appreciative of utility guys who can hit.  Only a couple of years ago, look what nothing we had at 3B?  And last year, look at Berti and Brujan and Nicky Lopez and Gage Workman.  between Shaw this year, and the possibilities with Triantos, Ramirez, and Rojas down the road, it could be nice to have some good utility infielders.  

[craig]

23 hours ago, Bertz said:

Jefferson Rojas has been the biggest positive surprise out of camp by a healthy margin.  But Pedro has been #2 and he's got a healthy lead on #3.

The power this spring looks like it's grown into being probably average-ish, but that's way better than what I was expecting coming into the spring.  This is a guy with plus defense, plus plate discipline, and plus contact ability.  Those pluses with 5-10 dong power is a quality bench guy or second division starter.  With 15+ homer power?  Now we're talking about a quality starter.  Need to make sure he can keep the groundballs in check, and that the new power doesn't have a major contact tradeoff (it hasn't this spring), but it's exciting.

Will be interesting to see how Rojas does when the minor-league season begins.  We're all excited about him now, but even in camp he's barely hitting .200.  Hopefully he can sustain some consistency, and show exciting bat over longer haul.  

Agree with your thoughts on Ramirez.  The same guy with 5-10 HR vs 15+ can have very different career.  Same kinda thing as has applied to Nico.  Last year, the 0-per-month Nico of April and May wasn't as productive as the guy who had 1-3 each of last four months.  And same kind of thing will apply for Triantos and Rojas.  

[Bertz]

24 minutes ago, craig said:

Will be interesting to see how Rojas does when the minor-league season begins.  We're all excited about him now, but even in camp he's barely hitting .200.  Hopefully he can sustain some consistency, and show exciting bat over longer haul.  

Agree with your thoughts on Ramirez.  The same guy with 5-10 HR vs 15+ can have very different career.  Same kinda thing as has applied to Nico.  Last year, the 0-per-month Nico of April and May wasn't as productive as the guy who had 1-3 each of last four months.  And same kind of thing will apply for Triantos and Rojas.  

Eh I'm not especially focused on production in spring training.  What has been so exciting about Rojas has been the power.  He's been hitting the ball eith authority, and even done so against a bit of velocity.  This is a kid who has generally even at his nadir had healthy K/BB/GB rates.  Basically he's always had good process but the hope has been that what he mainly needs is to grow a little bit more of his "man strength" and get the bat knocked out of his hands less.  It's exciting because his sterling exit velos this spring make it appear that's exactly what's happened.

[craig]

Yeah, we'll see.  Hitters have slumps and hots.  I'm just curious to see how consistently Rojas will be able to hit, and to drive the ball.  Hoping like crazy.  Not sure "getting the bat knocked out of his hands" happened in past for lack of strength?  Lots of guys with plenty of man strength still don't hit the ball on the nose often enough, and make too many soft-contact outs.  Time will tell how it goes for him.  Hoping like crazy that it goes really well!!!