Looking At The Prospects The Cubs Acquired In The Mark Leiter Jr Trade

When the Cubs signed Mark Leiter Jr. a while back, he was a complete lottery ticket. Already 30 years old and a clear journeyman in the league, the Cubs worked with his pitch and turned him into a fairly deadly 7th—and 8th-inning option, especially using his split-finger fastball against left-handed hitters. Today, the Cubs cashed in that lottery ticket and came away with two prospects on the back end: right-handed pitcher Jack Neely and infielder Benjamin Cowles.

Jack Neely
Jack Neely is instantly recognizable simply for his 6"8 frame; he's huge. Drafted in the 11th round out of Ohio State, the right-hander just turned 24 years old a little over a month ago. Working with a pitch FanGraphs calls a "plus slider" and a fastball that has averaged roughly 95mph in Triple-A, it's a pretty standard two-pitch right-handed bullpen repertoire. With his size, however, comes the normal caveat of "control" because controlling a frame that large becomes cumbersome (i.e., see the Cubs' own Luke Little). 

Neely relies on the slider against righties (as he should), throwing it nearly 50% of the time in his 10 Triple-A innings. When he's capable of throwing the pitch for strikes, he gets big in-zone whiffs but does tend to struggle with location on this pitch, throwing it non-competitively nearly one out of every three times. While not amazing, the fastball does play up due to his 6'8" frame and extension (though he doesn't get as much extension as you'd wish you could see!). 

Regardless, Neely has the look and the profile of a capable back-end reliever if he can dial in the slider more and throw strikes. The size, the velocity, and the slider are a combination that could see a K% sitting well above 25% and make him an intimidating pitcher to hit against. There's a good chance we'll see Neely pretty soon in Chicago, as he's probably right on the precipice of being MLB-ready.  The thought of the Cubs going with a 7th/8th of Luke Little to Jack Neely would surely be a fun thing to see; human beings you'd be more likely to see (physicality-wise) at the United Center with the Bulls than on a pitching mound. 

Benjamin Cowles
Ben Cowles was not considered among the Yankees' better prospects in pre-season. Entering the year, the M.O. on Cowles was that he was a capable defender at more than one position but struggled with bat-to-ball skills, which showed with inflated K% throughout his MiLB career. In 2023, Cowles posted a decent 109 wRC+ as a 23-year-old in Double-A but had a K% nearing 28% - that's just not good enough, and there should be no blame that anyone left him off top-30 lists. 

The good news is that Cowles, a 2021 draft pick out of Maryland (and former teammate of current Cub prospect Matt Shaw), put some work into his approach, and the results are showing. In 2024, thus far, the utility infielder has lowered his K% to 17.7% (a 10% reduction) while maintaining his double-digit walk rates, improving his ISO by .40 points, and seeing no shift in BABIP. This has resulted in a jump from 109 wRC+ to 140 wRC+, among Double-A leaders in average and OBP. Now, it should be noted that he is 24 and repeating the level, so there's a shade of doubt to be cast on just how good of a prospect he's also turning into.

Cowles, however, has shown that there's an MLB ceiling when there didn't appear to be one. He's able to play second, shortstop, and third base, and while all three positions are manned, and some have prospects who project to be better than Cowles at the next level, a role as a bench player capable of playing multiple positions well is on the table. An improved version of Miles Mastrobuoni feels like a realistic and potential outcome. He is also rule-5 eligible, meaning the Cubs will almost assuredly need to protect him come this winter. Sadly, Ben was recently hit by a pitch and placed on the 7-day injured list on July 26th, so it will likely be a bit before we see him at a Cub MiLB affiliate, but he's probably Triple-A ready whenever he's healthy.

Overall, I find little fault with the return. I don't think it will be a sexy trade from a prospect ranking perspective. There's no Dylan Lesko shock value here. But I also think it's a solid return. The Cubs lost Hunter Bigge in the Christopher Morel/Isaac Paredes swap and replaced him with Jack Neely. They've also added a pretty interesting player who could be a useful 250-300 PA kind of guy at multiple positions with a bit of upside that maybe there's even more there. And they did so for a player they signed off the scrap heap a few years ago. 

Interested in learning more about the Chicago Cubs' top prospects? Check out our comprehensive top prospects list that includes up-to-date stats, articles and videos about every prospect, scouting reports, and more!