Jason Ross

Image courtesy of © Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

On Friday afternoon, the Chicago Cubs called up infielder Pedro Ramirez to the major league roster, rewarding the youngster's breakout season. Ramirez has enjoyed one of the best starts to the system of any Cub, regardless of level, and now he'll take his talents to the North Side. But what are the Cubs getting in their newest addition? 

Pedro Ramirez Strengths

The first thing that stands out for Pedro Ramirez is his contact rates. His "worst" strikeout rate was 17.1% and came in his first real taste of Myrtle Beach. Since then, he's hovered in the 15-16% range regardless of where he hit; this is a massive green flag for the infielder. What's even better is that despite Ramirez clearly adding more pop to his game in 2026 (he's already set a career high for home runs through May), he's done so while maintaining a really excellent 16.3 K%. More home runs and all the same contact ability are a great start.

Another positive is that Ramirez has some excellent batted ball data. He's on the small side; however, he maintains some strong exit velocity data as he sits around the 75th (or better) percentile for things such as his exit velocity and max-EV. Even his barrel rate and pull-air% are strong for a hitter who swings more than average, as many times, players who tend to make a lot of contact and swing a lot have a tendency to make more weak contact. 

As it pertains to pitch-level data, Ramirez has excelled at hitting many different types of pitches, none more so than his ability to mash fastballs on the season. He has just a 10.9 whiff% on the pitch to go along with a .377 wOBA. Because he's a switch-hitter, he's capable of taking away pitchers' offerings that would normally neutralize a hitter who can only hit from one side of the plate. We can see this in how much damage he's done on sinkers and sliders; both pitches he's currently got a wOBA over .400 against. He has very few pitch-level weaknesses currently, giving him a more rounded approach at the plate.

While Ramirez is a switch-hitter, it's his left-handed swing that carries the day. When facing righties, Ramirez shows off much more pop in his bat. He's just more athletic from the left side and is able to hit the ball better. This isn't anything that is special about the infielder, as most hitters have a "better" side (i.e., Ian Happ is much better left-handed than right-handed most years). While the right-handed swing is fine, it's his ability to hit RHP that will likely be the carrying factor.

Defensively, Ramirez won a minor league gold glove as a third baseman last season and has been showing some versatility lately as the Iowa Cubs have given him some work in the outfield. It's unlikely he's a capable shortstop, but second, third, left, and right field all seem on the table, giving him solid versatility and multiple pathways into being a successful MLB player.

Pedro Ramirez Weaknesses

Pedro Ramirez is a bit of a free swinger, and will likely face some "hyper-aggressive" adjustments not dissimilar to issues Matt Shaw and Moises Ballesteros have faced upon their callups. Ramirez has a tendency to chase pitches while still making a lot of contact, and MLB pitchers are far more capable of attacking this weakness than Triple-A arms. It shouldn't surprise anyone if he "gets himself out" on some weak ground balls for a while as he learns "just because I can hit it doesn't mean I should". 

If there's one pitch he's seemingly struggled on this year, it's the sweeper. He has his lowest batting average (.182) and wOBA (.301) on this offering. He tends to expand the most on sweepers (with an o-swing% over 30%) and his highest whiff% on the year. No one is perfect, but this seems like a pitch potential veterans may look to exploit more. 

As noted earlier, Ramirez tends to struggle more with his right-handed swing. He doesn't hit the ball nearly as hard, doesn't pull the ball nearly as much, and doesn't appear to have the natural feel for it. The positive is that he makes up for a lack of power with a lot of contact and a bit better zone-awareness, but continuing to refine his right-handed swing would make him go from promising to downright dangerous.

Ramirez's Fit With Cubs

Pedro Ramirez is being called up to take Matt Shaw's position for the time being, though his fit will be a little different. Swinging better from the left side means that he won't so easily fit Shaw's best offensive aspect, his ability to hit left-handed pitchers, but will provide much of the same versatility in defensive positions and base running that will be lost.

This is an exciting call-up and one that probably wasn't on many people's radar a few months ago, but it's well deserved. Ramirez has hit at every single level he's been at and been young for his competition, and we all (myself included) have likely slept on him. With him breaking out due to his increase in home runs, he's gone from a prospect who was likely slept on to someone who looks like he could be a true MLB regular, and it will be exciting to see him get his first taste of the Show this weekend in Wrigley. 

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1 minute ago, macarthur31 said:

Perhaps an alternative: wRC+ with RISP, minimum 30 PA, 247 qualified batters:

• Suzuki, 19 in 50 PA, 14th worst
• Matt Shaw: 44 in 32 PA, 26th worst
• Alex Bregman: 48 in 62 PA, 28th worst.
• Ian Happ: 72 in 68 PA, 56th worst
• Dansby Swanson: 75 in 58 PA, 65th worst
• Nico Hoerner: 83 in 61 PA, 79th worst

 

On the flipside, here's who is comin' thru:

• Kelly, 155 in 50 PA, 53rd best
• Ballesteros, 144 in 33 PA, 69th best (noice)
• Busch, 133 in 62 PA, 82nd best

 

 

This adds some context but probably still isn't a great representation. Many data points don't hit "stabilizing" (aka taking out just dumb, random luck) until you get to 50, 100, or even more PAs. 

Truly, 30 PAs just isn't enough for these data sets to matter outside of curiosities. 

So much so, I wouldn't even really factor them into discussing player value. 

13 minutes ago, PeanutPunch33 said:

When the Cubs are struggling, the implication is always that they are just unlucky and things are fluky and it's no big deal because the sample size is small.  Of course, the reason can never be that they might just not be as good of a lineup as we think.  

I literally posted data showing them being unlucky. Both a tweet from someone and then fact checking it, showing the Cubs wOBA on solid contact balls in the air is a full .100 points lower than league average, despite hitting a lot of them. That's bad luck. It's baseball, luck is apart of the game, but it doesn't make it untrue. 

If you'd like to provide any data for why the Cubs offense *isn't* as good as we think, be my guest. 

I'm also more than willing to point out luck in the other direction. Right now, the offense isn't bad. It's snakebitten. It's okay to admit bad luck is real, just like good luck is real. Example: two 10 game winning streaks amist all of the injuries was good luck. 

17 minutes ago, mul21 said:

Again, you're making judgements without all the information.  How many chances have they had vs the others on this list?  I bet it's more, and in some cases, a lot more.

Not to mention, these numbers are not predictive. Last year Ian Happ hit better with runners on and better yet with runners in scoring position than he did bases empty. Same in 2024. 

No-context statistics lists like this breed anger for no reason other than to rage bait and create content interaction on social media. 

7 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

 

Just to add context, while the Cubs had a .523 wOBA on balls hit 90+ MPH on line drives and fly balls over the last three weeks, that's fifth worst in baseball and league average on those is .100 points higher. They've been decidedly unlucky in this fashion. 

26 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

The bulk of his at bats came during Suzuki’s IL stint and about a week or so before Seiya moved out of the DH spot. He’s averaging about 1.5 PAs per game and won’t see 300 PAs at the current pace. 

If he has a future in the organization then putting him lineup against left handed starting pitchers is probably in everyone’s best interest, especially if it means no Suzuki in right field. 

Correct, but here's the thing: Suzuki isn't going to be the only injury the Cubs are going to suffer between today and the end of the year on the position player side. Shaw will take a decent amount of PA's, if not the bulk of the PA's (infield) when that happens. So sure, if no one gets hurt he will average 1.5 PA's or whatever, but we know that won't happen.

1 hour ago, Soul said:

I have no answer at all why an offense that was clicking in most areas suddenly can’t get it done.  I guess the pitching downturn can at least partly be explained by regression to the mean.  But these bats should be producing and they just aren’t right now.

Bregman feels like a signing where it takes awhile to get comfortable in his new team and league.  I’m hoping that’s the case and he picks up soon. The rest though?  WTF.

I know people hate this answer, but it's almost always "the reason is because baseball is 162 games and these things happen". 

1 hour ago, tornmeniscus said:

Paralysis by analysis thats what this article and site is. Get a real job , its not that hard. Hes a middling player and everyone knows it. 

Only 4 LF'ers have a better wRC+ than Ian Happ. There are 24 qualified. Now, I'm not a math major, but I know "5 of 24" isn't "middling". 

53 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Arbitrary endpoints but whatever.  Since 4/28:

76 PAs, 26.3% K, 11.8% BB, .284/.355/.612, 7 dongs

Contact numbers are trending in the right direction while the groundball rate is normalizing.  I have a feeling those are not independent.  My guess is he got too uppercutty early in the year and piled up the K's (and dongs) and now he's found a bit more of a sustainable balance.

2 minutes ago, JD94 said:

If Wiggins is a good enough headliner to get a TORP, I’d do it in a heartbeat. Love Wiggins upside, but I’m afraid there’s always going to be some type of injury that constantly brings him back down. 

This is going to be the story with most SP prospects. I'm not saying do or do not trade Wiggins, but we should probably expect any SP prospect who hits 97-100mph to be a massive injury risk. 

46 minutes ago, Outshined_One said:

I feel the same way about our pitching as @Bertz, it's not in good shape, but it's a lot better than it was this time last season.  I no longer feel like I have to put a non-Wiggins/non-Sanders guy under a microscope with a bunch of caveats like "if he adds velocity..." or "if he can control his curve/slider..." in order to justify their prospect status.

Absolutely. It's not a good pitching system but I do feel better about it. I mostly feel better today about the system entirely than I thought I would today. We will see if that sticks come July, but I'm optimistic about the direction. I'd rather it be that than the inverse. 

12 minutes ago, JBears79 said:

Ive liked that we have seen some breakouts and development this season. The pitching in the farm is absolutely dismal right now.

Really excited about Hartshorn though.

I wouldn't say it's entirely dismal. Brooke Caple, Kaleb Wing, and Mason McGuire all have had better starts to the year than we probably expected. I think even the pitching has been a bit better than I expected. 

It's not a good situation. But I do think it's probably better system wide than I was thinking it would be, too. 

On one hand, I'm excited that Josiah Hartshorn hit another home run, walked a few times and hit a double to raise his wRC+. On the other hand...dude let me write!

(For the uninitiated, Hartshorn had another banger of a game last night)

Image courtesy of © Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

As the ivy on the brick walls at Wrigley grows stronger and greener and prospects have had a chance to separate themselves over a month of play, we here at North Side Baseball have finished up our first round of 2026 prospect voting and have seen a significant shakeup in the Chicago Cubs' top 20. A shifting of the tide was always expected; the Cubs have seen many of their top prospects graduate or be traded in the past two years, but there have been a few surprises, both good and bad so far in the new year. Who made our new top 20? We'll break it down below.

Chicago Cubs Top 20 Prospects (May 2026):

1. Jefferson Rojas, SS
2. Jaxon Wiggins, SP
3. Pedro Ramirez, 2b/3b
4. Kevin Alcantara, OF
5. Josiah Hartshorn. OF
6. Ethan Conrad, OF
7. Kane Kepley, OF
8. Jonathon Long, 1b
9. James Triantos, INF
10. Cole Mathis, 1b/3b
11. Owen Ayers. C
12. Brooks Caple. SP
13. Juan Cabada, SS
14. Kaleb Wing, SP
15. Angel Cepedad, SS
16. Dominick Reid, SP
17. Jostin Florentino, SP
18. Ty Southisene, SS
19. Will Sanders, SP
20. Brandon Birdsell, SP

Who's Stock is Up?

Simply put, it feels like it would be malpractice if this section didn't begin with Pedro Ramirez. Ramirez is someone who has hit at every level and to be fair, everyone has probably slept on him a bit. How many switch hitting infielders put up a 122 wRC+ while striking out just 15.1 % of the time at Double-A to begin with? How many of them are 21 years old? And how many players who put up those data points wouldn't even make an organization's top five, let alone be hanging around on the back end of a top 10? I'm not even blaming anyone, I've remained skeptical too, mainly because he looked mostly like a second baseman and one with limited power. It feels like that old Michael Jordan meme; as it seems, Pedro Ramirez took that personally. 

As of publishing, Ramirez has already set his career high for HR's hit at any level in any season with nine. He's done so with a sterling 136 wRC+, a strikeout rate under 17%, a wOBA in the 80th percentile, and an in-zone contact rate in the 96th percentile. He's done this as a 22-year-old in Triple-A. While Baseball America contributor Eli Ben-Porat is almost assuredly being hyperbolic considering it's 38 games and he wasn't anywhere near a top-100 list to start the year, he compared him to Guardians star-third baseman Jose Ramirez. You don't get put in a sentence with that level of a player if you're not having a hell of a season, regardless of how exaggerated that comment may be. 

Ramirez is not the only prospect who's stock is way up, as the early returns on the 2025 draft class are simply fantastic so far. First off, sixth-round selection, and the receiver of the second highest slot bonus of the draft, Josiah Hartshorn looks like an absolute menace for opposing pitchers. Thus far, the switch hitting outfielder has a 154 wRC+, has walked 30 times compared to just 10 strikeouts, and has four home runs. Simply put, you will not find a 19-year old with a better idea of what is and isn't a strike than this kid. And unlike Ramirez's early days, people won't be worried about the power potential of a 6'0", 220lbs prospect like Hartshorn. 

Not to be outdone, 19-year-old pitcher Kaleb Wing has been generating a ton of strikeouts and whiffs down in Arizona and feels like he's way ahead of schedule. Wing, the Cubs' fourth-round pick in the 2025 draft, has massive upside and is flashing it already. He's got a fastball that has added value (and people in the organization, according to Cubs' prospect guru Bryan Smith, believe this offering could hit 100mph). My favorite aspect? A 19-year-old who's relatively new to the position already has a changeup. Again, you just don't see teenagers with this pitch very often. Usually, it's a story more like Cade Horton or Ben Brown; it's a pitch you learn later. It's hard not to dream on Wing's upside.

A few other notable names who have raised their stocks: Brooks Caple has had a wonderful start in South Bend, has already been promoted to Knoxville, and his stuff has jumped and looks like he could be a real MLB starting pitcher down the road. Arizona Fall League standout Owen Ayers made short work of South Bend as well and now is also in Double-A. The power has really begun to pop and despite being 25, he's new to being a catcher so some of that is easily forgiven. As well, Kevin Alcantara has showed off some impressive power and a new swing change, and is now among the top homer hitters regardless of level across all of MiLB.

Who's Stock is Down?

The reality of prospects is that while as fun as it is to count your wins, not everyone is going to succeed all the time. The first month of the season has certainly had some players whose stock is down. Jonathon Long, one of the darlings of the 2025 season, hasn't had the best start to his 2026 campaign. While his .305/.377/.413 line looks good, the International League is a bit of a hitters' paradise, so his wRC+ is sitting at just 105. More importantly, his quality of contact just isn't as good as it was last year. He's seen a decline in his barrel rate, pull rate, zone contact, whiff rate and hard-hit rate. Though some of them are only a few percentage points, you'd like to see someone who is now pushing 800 PA's at his current level remain in that upper crust, especially as a 1B prospect who relies so heavily on his bat. It's not dire, but it's not in the right direction either. The good news is that it's just one month of data; we can look back at this in a few weeks and consider ourselves silly for worrying.

A few injuries have also been a bit of an annoyance for various players. For some, like Jaxon Wiggins and Ethan Conrad, it has just (knock on wood) delayed the start of their seasons. Wiggins, the Cubs' de facto best arm in the system, has dealt with elbow soreness. The hope is that a weekend bullpen session will jumpstart his 2026 campaign, but it's yet to have been reported how that went (as of this writing). Top 2025 draft selection, Ethan Conrad, has also been sidelined with a back injury and has yet to make his debut. 

The Cubs have also seen other injuries to starting pitchers such as Will Sanders, who was placed on the seven day injured list on April 23rd and Brandon Birdsell, who is still recovering from Tommy John surgery last year. Both pitchers are currently hanging on to the 19th and 20th spots on our list, but could fall off if a few of the other risers keep pushing upward.

State of the Farm System

The Chicago Cubs' minor-league system was always going to take a hit here. The team has graduated a lot of players recently and has traded others. There should be no panic in a tumble down the rankings due to these reasons; good baseball teams do this. Prospects are capital; sometimes that capital is used to graduate players and turn them into MLB contributors, such as Moises Ballesteros, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Matt Shaw and others. Sometimes you trade that capital (such as Jackson Ferris, Owen Caissie and Zyhir Hope) to acquire MLB contributors like Michael Busch. The trick is in what you do afterward, and it'd be hard to argue this year hasn't been promising. 

Entering the offseason, the Cubs were generally a team you'd feel comfortable placing in the bottom-10 in baseball but as of today, things are trending closer to being an "average" system than a "below-average" one. I didn't even hit on our new top prospect Jefferson Rojas, despite a pretty solid 114 wRC+ on the year from the 21-year-old who's currently playing in Knoxville. That's how you know it's been a pretty good start down on the farm; the guy in the top spot is kind of an afterthought so far (and really, by no fault of his own). Another sign it's been a good start: Jonathon Long is the one statistical player in the top-20 you can find some fault with, and even then he's not off to a drastically bad season, just a less than impressive one. So far, the highs are pretty highs and the lows are pretty acceptable. 

It's early, however, so the Cubs shouldn't count their chickens too fast. Pedro Ramirez is flying high, but it's been less than 40 games into his breakout and we should probably stop short of the hyperbolic dreams (he probably isn't  the next Jose Ramirez). Jaxon Wiggins isn't entirely out of the crosshairs of a potential injury, and what does or doesn't happen to Kevin Alcantara's contact rate moving forward is unknown. That said, it's hard not to be at least optimistic as we sit here in the middle of the May that the Cubs are at least showing signs that they're capable of finding replacements for all of those prospects who have either been promoted or traded. 

Which Cubs top-20 prospects are you most excited about? Did someone make your personal top-20 list that didn't make ours? Let us know in the comments below!

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Just now, Rcal10 said:

Another run would be nice. 

7 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

When did i say I judge only by batting average? But you know what funny since you brought it up, if player A goes 20 for 100 he not hitting very well is he ?

I personally like OPS, and I get batting average isnt looked at like it was in the past because off all these different metrics they use now, but hitters still need to get hits to succeed and get all those other stats. 

A hitter who goes 20 for 100 may very well be hitting very good and may be the benefactor of bad luck. Much like a hitter who has 40 hits in 100 chances may not be hitting well and instead is the benefactor of good luck. These numbers don't inform the next 100 PAs on their own.

100 PAs is around 20% or less of a full season. And these numbers are simply not predictive at all. It is why we have plenty of data points, batted ball data and expected data to determine whether or not a hitter is doing well or not. 

23 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

Funny thing is nobody was actually complaining about him until someone chimed into a conversation about whether he or Suzuki should get extended.

I just simply chose Suzuki and felt Happ as of now hasn't done much to get an extension.

I know everyone has different opinion on Happ, the guy is pretty much an above the norm streaky hitter, and at the end of year he has his numbers, but so far this season,  yes his HRs and walks are good but hes just not getting the hits and the strikeouts are much higher then normal. 

I dont dislike Happ, he is frustrating at time with his cold streaks, but i want him to play well cause that helps my team win more games, it just he just seems more off then usual so far.

 

 

Almost every hitter in baseball is streaky. 

As well, sure, he's striking out more. He's also hitting the ball better than ever. His xwOBA is currently the highest of his career, his wRC+ would be the highest of his career, his ISO is the highest of his career, his barrel% is the highest of his career...

And to be clear, your initial comment was that "Happ hasn't given much of a reason to be extended". Not only has he been 19% better than league average offensively since 2022 (over 2,600 PAs) he's putting up some of his best offensive numbers this year. What exactly does he have to do to "give a reason" to be "extended". 

That's the absurdity of it all. That's why people are getting on you. That's a nonsense comment. If you wanted to say that extending a 32-soon-to-be-33 year old LF'er in the offseason might have concerning things such as a decline in bat speed (hitters have a known decline around this time) I think you'd at least have an argument with a leg to stand on. Instead you've decided to hitch your trailer to "he hasn't given much of a reason to be extended" in the midst of his best offensive season of his career and a player who's had an excellent career prior.

I haven't been able to be around as much; state testing, some real-life things (nothing bad!) and others have had a bit of a hold on me recently. But it's nice to see we are in the "complain about Ian Happ" part of the season and that the more things change the more they stay the same.

5 hours ago, Bertz said:

I know we all love dongs but Southisene is fun man

Brethowr was my pet project last year and Southisene is mine this year. There is nearly a foot difference in the two's heights. I love baseball, man.

1. Jaxon Wiggins
2. Jefferson Rojas
3. Kevin Alcantara
4. Jonathon Long
5. Ethan Conrad
6. Kane Kepley
7. Pedro Ramirez
8. Josiah Hartshorn
9. James Triantos
10. Cole Mathis
11. Angel Cepeda
12. Juan Cabada
13. Brooks Caple
14. Owen Ayers
15. Dominick Reid
16. Jostin Florentino
17. Kaleb Wing
18. Ty Southisene
19. Brandon Birdsell
20. Will Sanders

1. Jaxon Wiggins
2. Jefferson Rojas
3. Kevin Alcantara
4. Jonathon Long
5. Ethan Conrad
6. Kane Kepley
7. Pedro Ramirez
8. Josiah Hartshorn
9. James Triantos
10. Cole Mathis
11. Angel Cepeda
12. Juan Cabada
13. Brooks Caple
14. Owen Ayers
15. Dominick Reid
16. Jostin Florentino
17. Kaleb Wing
18. Ty Southisene
19. Brandon Birdsell
20. Will Sanders

Breggy.

The thing I am most excited about for this draft is the influence that Tyler Zombro will have on the process. Generally speaking, I think Kantrovitz and team have done a pretty good job in the draft. They have found value in the first almost every year (Jordan Wicks may be the one miss I blame them for? The 2020 draft feels like a harsh thing to pin on any org with the limited funds and scouting and sample size. And Wicks isn't dead yet, but he seems to be teetering into "didn't work out" territory more and more - and there were moments I saw what they did, so I'm not immune here). They have done well to identify value outside of the first round as well, even deep-cut picks. 

At the same time, I'm interested to see what Zombro adds to the draft room and what kinds of arms he's interested in. And I think that's going to be the biggest wrench in "what do the Cubs do?" this year. They clearly need a haul of pitching to infuse into the system, so right off the bat we should get a good idea there. How the Cubs picked in the past will change at least a bit and how much of that changes will be something I'm going to be following.