Baseball America spearheaded the practice of developing possibility checklists, and their rankings continue to hold substantial weight in the market. When they launch their top 10 potential customers listing for the Chicago Cubs heading into the 2024 period, it’s worth taking notice of.
The list and the searching reports are behind a paywall, yet I can share the names of the gamers they think are the ten finest leads in the Cubs system.
Pete Crow-Armstrong OF
Cade Horton RHP
Matt Shaw SS
Owen Caissie OF
Moises Ballesteros C.
Jordan Wicks LHP.
Kevin Alcántara OF.
Ben Brown RHP.
Jefferson Rojas SS.
Jackson Ferris LHP.
First of all, it should be noted that, unlike a few other possibility rankings, Baseball America’s positions have constantly been extremely greatly weighted towards the point of views of precursors and various other industry experts. They certainly do not neglect statistical data, yet they typically filter it with the interpretations of baseball experts. They additionally tend to look for upside, considering that as the saying goes, you win titles with celebrities. However they do take risk into factor to consider, so a gamer like Jordan Wicks, who might not have the benefit of a Jackson Ferris, obtains placed higher because Wicks has already demonstrated the abilities to pitch in the majors.
The first thing that protrudes to me is that any type of farm system that has Kevin Alcántara as the number 7 possibility is extremely deep. I’ll possibly place Alcántara higher when I happen to making my list in January, however I don’t really differ with the possibility of the 6 players rated ahead of The Jaguar here. It’s a deep ranch system.
The first three names on the list are no surprise. I can see just how someone might make a case for Horton over Crow-Armstrong, however even if Crow-Armstrong’s bat dissatisfies, his protection in center area is so good that he might still wind up as a 3-4 WAR player. And also, pitchers are just inherently riskier and Horton has already had one Tommy John surgical procedure.
Shaw definitely pleased in his short time in the organization. BA reports that the Cubs are dropping a Dustin Pedroia comp on him, which would absolutely be amazing if it occurs. Most likely exciting for Shaw as well, since he grew up viewing Pedroia in Massachusetts.
Both Caissie and Ballesteros share resemblances as left-handed batters with the prospective to master the middle order. Nevertheless, they likewise have some defensive issues, with Ballesteros having more questions marks in this field compared to Caissie. Despite these issues, both gamers showed improvement in their protective abilities in 2023. While Ballesteros is thought about the much better pure hitter, Caissie is even more of a conventional slugger with some problems with get in touch with. It’s feasible that their protective abilities could impact their possibilities of coming to be top 100 leads in baseball.
At the bottom of the listing are two gamers. Rojas and Ferris, who did well in Low-A last year despite being much really young for the degree. As an 18-year old in a tough hitting environment in Myrtle Beach, Rojas struck a strong.268/.345/.404 over 70 video games. Rojas is probably a hit-over-glove infielder, but he’s possibly sufficient defensively that he can stick in the center infield. He’s likewise so young that it wouldn’t stun me if he boosts sufficient defensively to be at least above standard with the glove.
Ferris was only 19 and he’s still a long way far from the majors, however he showed some genuine promise down with the Pelicans last year. Control is an issue– as it typically is for young arms– however he set out an excellent 77 batters in 56 innings last season. Ferris has the size and stuff to be at least a mid-rotation starter.
