2026 Midseason Top Prospect List Updates

[craig]

14 hours ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

Receiving gets rave reviews too.

That's great to read!  Didn't know that.  He might be improving fast, then?  Last year at Myrtle, in 56 catching games he had 23 PB/E (12, 11), which is extraordinary.  And the offseason writeups seemed to reflect bat and arm.  If he's improved his receiving now to 'rave' levels, that sounds really significant.  

Any input on his "soft" skills? Pitch calling, working with pitchers, framing, all of those kinds of soft things?  

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Sounds like Poteet is at least average defensively all-around, that's good to hear

[CaliforniaRaisin]

The Cubs have BA's 16th best farm system currently: 

[Jason Ross]

24 minutes ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

The Cubs have BA's 16th best farm system currently: 

As much as I continue to think Hartshorn probably is a little too high and Rojas is probably a little too low, it's impressive that the system entered the year as "one of the least exciting" and in just a few months, and even before the draft has managed to get to essentially "average". 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Kiley updated his org top 10s:

[Tryptamine]

26 minutes ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

Kiley updated his org top 10s:

Hmm, I was going to horsefeathers on him putting both Sorrel and Bailey top 10, but after actually thinking about it, he's probably right. I'm not sure how I feel about it that all 3 sort into the Cub top 10. On one hand it's a nice talent infusion on the other hand it kind of speaks the lack of depth and the struggles of Long/Triantos.

Edited Wednesday at 05:59 PM by Tryptamine

[JBears79]

35 minutes ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

Kiley updated his org top 10s:

I think thats about right. 

[craig]

25 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

Hmm, I was going to horsefeathers on him putting both Sorrel and Bailey top 10, but after actually thinking about it, he's probably right. I'm not sure how I feel about it that all 3 sort into the Cub top 10. On one hand it's a nice talent infusion on the other hand it kind of speaks the lack of depth and the struggles of Long/Triantos.

Just dumb opinion by me, for sure.  But I'm supportive of putting high-round picks who haven't shown failure (yet) pretty high.  I'd put Townsend at 3, ahead of Wiggins/Wing/Kepley.  Wiggins might become good, but he's got both health and command as concerns, same for Wing.  So I don't feel like "hasn't proven it in the pros yet" really downranks Townsend for me.  

I'd certainly have 2nd-rounders Sorrell and Bailey top-10.  I know it's totally subjective, and the same approach will have different outcomes in each of our brains.  But I have a subjective gut-instinct question, "who would I more regret trading away?"  For Triantos or Long, I wouldn't fear trading them, we kinda know what they are and aren't.  likewise for Kepley.  But maybe Sorrell will be a 30-35 HR guy, and Bailey will be 40-45 with tons of walks?  A year from now, if both are hitting .225 with mongo K-rates, I might feel very differently.  But I have considerable respect/trust for Kantro's scouting eval, and he Likes Sorrell a lot.  I'm keeping hopes high until I get evidence to the contrary.  

[Outshined_One]

I think there's a drop-off after Ayers where you can make arguments for a handful of guys, and it basically comes down to personal preference.  Maybe you like Long and Triantos for their proximity to the majors, maybe you think Caple/Reid/Sanders are legitimate SP prospects, maybe you're a shiny new toy type, etc.

Thinking about it a bit, are we even going to see Bailey this season?  Was under the impression his leg injury earlier this year was going to require a long period of recovery.

[Jason Ross]

2 hours ago, Tryptamine said:

Hmm, I was going to horsefeathers on him putting both Sorrel and Bailey top 10, but after actually thinking about it, he's probably right. I'm not sure how I feel about it that all 3 sort into the Cub top 10. On one hand it's a nice talent infusion on the other hand it kind of speaks the lack of depth and the struggles of Long/Triantos.

Eh, I'm not really sure there's a massive drop-off. Sorrell had 1st round helium, and realistically, a lot of top-75 picks make top-10 lists. The Braves had three added, the White Sox had three added, the A's had three added, the Padres added top-5 prospects in their system...it's not a crazy thing. 

Plus when you get to the 10th spot, I think there's plenty of decent guys. Bailey. McGwire (in the futures game), Long, Triantos...they're all perfectly acceptable top-10 prospects in a system who were left off. 

I don't want to wax poetic about the system, but Myles Bailey being the 10th best prospect is a pretty "fine" thing for a middling system like the Cubs have.

[Jason Ross]

2 hours ago, craig said:

Just dumb opinion by me, for sure.  But I'm supportive of putting high-round picks who haven't shown failure (yet) pretty high.  I'd put Townsend at 3, ahead of Wiggins/Wing/Kepley.  Wiggins might become good, but he's got both health and command as concerns, same for Wing.  So I don't feel like "hasn't proven it in the pros yet" really downranks Townsend for me.  

I'd certainly have 2nd-rounders Sorrell and Bailey top-10.  I know it's totally subjective, and the same approach will have different outcomes in each of our brains.  But I have a subjective gut-instinct question, "who would I more regret trading away?"  For Triantos or Long, I wouldn't fear trading them, we kinda know what they are and aren't.  likewise for Kepley.  But maybe Sorrell will be a 30-35 HR guy, and Bailey will be 40-45 with tons of walks?  A year from now, if both are hitting .225 with mongo K-rates, I might feel very differently.  But I have considerable respect/trust for Kantro's scouting eval, and he Likes Sorrell a lot.  I'm keeping hopes high until I get evidence to the contrary.  

You can rank them however you like, but I think it's a good thing to remember, Cade Townsend wasn't like a star at Ole Miss He had a 4.64 ERA last year. I get he hasn't "shown failure" at the professional level, but he hasn't had a ton of sustained success even at the SEC level. Don't you think that's very rich considering that he has to climb the entire MiLB ladder and Jaxon Wiggins will likely make a debut (on merit) this year? And it isn't like Wiggins hasn't had
- Top-100 love
- A good draft pedigree (2nd round)
- Plenty of success

I like Cade Townsend; happy with the pick, like the upside. But I think the only real reason to rank him above Wiggins is fatigue/shiny-new-toy as of now. 

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Zero problem with three of those guys being in the top 10. You can dream on Sorrell and Bailey as being impact players. There's nothing to dream on with Long and Triantos, unless your dream is solid bench guys or platoon players

[We Got The Whole 9]

I have McGwire above them but not much of a discernible difference. 

[lfg26]

I think the players in the recent Top 10 for ESPN's top prospects after the 2026 draft are correct. I'd just adjust the ranking like this:

       ESPN top 10:                                      LFG26 top 10:

1. Jefferson Rojas SS/2B/3B            1. Jefferson Rojas SS/2B/3B

2. Josiah Hartshorn RF/1B/LF         2. Josiah Hartshorn RF/1B/LF

3. Jaxon Wiggins RHP                      3. Kane Kepley CF/LF/RF

4. Kane Kepley CF/LF/RF                 4. Owen Ayers C

5. Kaleb Wing RHP                           5. Jaxon Wiggins RHP

6. Ethan Conrad CF/RF/LF              6. Cade Townsend RHP

7. Cade Townsend RHP                    7. Caden Sorrell CF/RF

8. Owen Ayers C                              8. Ethan Conrad CF/RF/LF (just needs to prove it)

9. Caden Sorrell CF/RF                   9. Myles Bailey 1B/3B

10. Myles Bailey 1B/3B                    10. Kaleb Wing RHP

That's 10 legit prospects that have a good shot a being decent big leaguers.... which is not something I've seen in several years from the farm.

Edited Thursday at 05:25 AM by lfg26

[lfg26]

When was the last time the Cubs had a top 10 prospect list with 5 players that could potentially hit 35+ hrs for the big league club once they've matured??? Hartshorn, Ayers, Sorrell, Conrad, and Bailey are five massive power prospects that you don't typically see all in one system. Lots of high exit velocities for those guys. If I had to guess, those 5 guys gotta all be in the top 50 or so prospects in all of MiLB in terms of power potential. If we can get 2-3 of them to pan out, that would be amazing. 

[lfg26]

Just for fun, I'm gonna include the 3 prospects that have fairly recently lost their prospect status due to MLB service time (as well as Matt Shaw, cuz it makes sense to me to include him):

1. Pedro Ramirez 2B/3B (no longer eligible)

2. Jefferson Rojas SS/2B/3B

3. Josiah Hartshorn RF/1B/LF

4. Kane Kepley CF/LF/RF

5. Owen Ayers C

6. Matt Shaw 3B/2B/OF (no longer eligible)

7. Jaxon Wiggins RHP

8. Cade Townsend RHP

9. Caden Sorrell CF/RF

10. Ethan Conrad CF/RF/LF

11. Myles Bailey 1B/3B

12. Moises Ballesteros DH/C (no longer eligible)

13. Kevin Alcantara CF/RF/LF (no longer eligible)

14. Kaleb Wing RHP (not trying to disrespect Wing here, there's just a lot of talent above him, and he hasn't proven all that much yet.... he could move up quickly based on performance)