Cubs Farm System And Prospects Discussion Thread

[Omeletpants]

Highly doubt he develops more power. He would have to get bigger it seems and he really cant lose any speed if he wants to be a CF. He gets by on his excellent jumps and routes. I remember when scouts said he could hit 20 homeruns. I never saw it. I never cared for him when the Cubs drafted him. He seemed like an over achiever that talent would eventually catch up to. He is probably a major leaguer in some capacity, but I never saw out future CF for a long period.

Leave it to you to shatter the kid's dream

 

[SilenceS]

Leave it to you to shatter the kid's dream

I bet he is a better golfer than you

 

[beckdawg]

I don't know if it was just a lack of reporting or what but I hadn't seen this til today. Apparently the cubs during the IFA period signed Jose Albertos a RHP to a $1.5 mil deal. He wasn't on mlb.com's top 30 IFA prospects. He also wasn't on fangraphs list of prospects. That might make it seem as though he's kind of meh prospect but when you consider how much money the cubs gave him I think that's more an indication of talent. Other than the enormous deal Yadier Alvarez got from the dodgers I believe he was the highest paid pitcher in this IFA period.

The little I could gather on him(mostly from bleacher nation referencing a baseball america article) suggests he's 6’1″, 185 lbs and can already hit 94 with a potentially plus slider and a changeup. He's also already state side which isa good indication of talent as typically you only bring over your best guys over at 16-17. Hope to find out more on him soonish.

 

[DanTown]

A guy who one day might be a back end of the roster type player or a guy who might be a valuable trade chip if he continues to flash a semi decent hit tool is Chesney Young, the 2B in AA Tennessee. Young has (and will likely never be) a high rated prospect seeing as he was a 14th round college player out of Mercer in the 2014 draft.

While he lacks power, age 23 slash line of .320/.424/.460 is right around his career minor league numbers and he's flashed decent speed with 7 SB and only 2 CS.

The thing about Young is that he simply doesn't strike out. Only four K's on the year in 55 PA after having just 51 in 510 PA in combined A ball last year. He does not hit for power but if the bat continues to profile as a high contact / low SO bat with decent speed, he could be a bench player in a few years. I could see him at AAA next year (if he has a season close to how it's started) as Alcantra could be moved back to a CF role if Almora's with the big league club and then Young can be a guy fighting for a roster spot in 2018 as a right handed LaStella.

 

[Parade_Rain]

Over at the Cubs Den today, they have a bunch of the Cubs prospects listed, who have at least 60 AB now. Contreras continues to look good, as does Happ, Dewees and more. McKinney is hitting .218 right now. Hopefully he can improve upon that.

 

[Bear Pride]

Over at the Cubs Den today, they have a bunch of the Cubs prospects listed, who have at least 60 AB now. Contreras continues to look good, as does Happ, Dewees and more. McKinney is hitting .218 right now. Hopefully he can improve upon that.

I've Loved Contreras for a while now. He's our C of the future. He should get some decent AB's this year in the bigs in order to replace Ross full time next year.

Rk		POS	AVG	OBP	SLG	SB/CS	BB%	K%
1.	Gleyber Torres	SS	.172	.303	.313	1/1	15.3%	29.2%
2.	Willson Contreras	C	.373	.421	.451	1/1	7.0%	12.3%

 

[Parade_Rain]

Ian Happ was named the Carolina League's Player of the Week after hitting .429/.600/.905 with three home runs and nine walks for High-A Myrtle Beach in seven games last week.

 

[TC in Mississippi]

Ian Happ was named the Carolina League's Player of the Week after hitting .429/.600/.905 with three home runs and nine walks for High-A Myrtle Beach in seven games last week.

Happ will likely see AA Tennessee by July.

 

[Parade_Rain]

Happ will likely see AA Tennessee by July.

I would hope so, since he's a college pick and not out of HS.

 

[TC in Mississippi]

I would hope so, since he's a college pick and not out of HS.

True but he's also not on as clear a big league track as previous guys like Bryant and Schwarber. You have to wonder that if he continues to play well and move up quickly that he isn't a trade piece.

 

[DanTown]

I wonder if the Cubs would trade Alcantra to a team that's maybe going to fall out of it (i.e San Diego) and then promote Chesney Young (.359/.481./.516; 14 BB vs 6K; 9SB) to AAA and promote Happ to AA.

 

[Parade_Rain]

True but he's also not on as clear a big league track as previous guys like Bryant and Schwarber. You have to wonder that if he continues to play well and move up quickly that he isn't a trade piece.

He was the top hitter drafted. He needs to be on a fast track whether he's the one traded or needs to be the replacement.

 

[TC in Mississippi]

He was the top hitter drafted. He needs to be on a fast track whether he's the one traded or needs to be the replacement.

I get it but he has switched positions from the OF to 2B so his curve may not be quite as fast. Still I would expect him in MLB by 2017 one way or another. It's pretty unlikely he'll be at 2B for the Cubs.

 

[DanTown]

Happ has a 28% K rate in high A ball; while I'll sit here and like a lot of what he's doing, his bat doesn't scream quick promotion to me nor does the fact he went to high A instead of AA scream the Cubs want to quickly promote him. Still seems like there's a few holes in the swing that needs to be worked out.

I think the logical timeframe is maybe Sept call up in 2018 but more likely becomes full time when he competes for a roster spot 2019 and competes with Zobrist for time at that point. I also think his bat is the kind of bat the Cubs would include in a trade for a TOR arm.

 

[SilenceS]

Pump the brakes on these prospects. The Cubs so far have hit the lottery. The amount of prospects they have brought up and succeeded so far is unreal. It crushes the actual numbers of top prospects that make it. Look at the Twins, they are going through it right now. No need to rush. Let them develop.

 

[DanTown]

The other thing to remember: the Cubs absolutely don't have open spots for guys to simply promote these guys in to. The only regular players who aren't locked up for at least the next three seasons after this one are

- Montero/Ross - C
- Fowler - CF
- Heyward (3 year out)

I think the Cubs really don't want to trade anyone unless it's in a package for a true TOR arm but they simply don't have that open spot in the rotation as of now. It's great that Happ is hitting but he's blocked by Young/Alcantra ahead of him so until the Cubs move one of those two (or move Young to SS in AA), I don't see Happ's path to even higher level competition, let alone MLB.

 

[Bear Pride]

Pump the brakes on these prospects. The Cubs so far have hit the lottery. The amount of prospects they have brought up and succeeded so far is unreal. It crushes the actual numbers of top prospects that make it. Look at the Twins, they are going through it right now. No need to rush. Let them develop.

With all due respect, you're always telling people to 'pump the breaks' about Cubs prospects, in the Cubs prospect thread nonetheless. I remember when you were telling me to not get too excited about Russell and Schwarber. :shrug:

 

[SilenceS]

With all due respect, you're always telling people to 'pump the breaks' about Cubs prospects, in the Cubs prospect thread nonetheless. I remember when you were telling me to not get too excited about Russell and Schwarber. :shrug:

Because statistics don't lie. People do

 

[beckdawg]

Pump the brakes on these prospects. The Cubs so far have hit the lottery. The amount of prospects they have brought up and succeeded so far is unreal. It crushes the actual numbers of top prospects that make it. Look at the Twins, they are going through it right now. No need to rush. Let them develop.

I'm not sure I'd say the cubs are much different than any other club in terms of prospect "luck." Alcantara struggled. Baez struggled. Soler struggled. Russell's bat has struggled. Rizzo struggled initially. The difference to me is that the cubs unlike many teams have enough to fall back on that they aren't putting everything on the kids. Sure Bryant was basically a superstar off the bat but that's sort of what you expect when you draft a college player #2.

With that being said I do tend to agree with the point you were trying to make though about slowing the anticipation for the next wave.

 

[SilenceS]

I'm not sure I'd say the cubs are much different than any other club in terms of prospect "luck." Alcantara struggled. Baez struggled. Soler struggled. Russell's bat has struggled. Rizzo struggled initially. The difference to me is that the cubs unlike many teams have enough to fall back on that they aren't putting everything on the kids. Sure Bryant was basically a superstar off the bat but that's sort of what you expect when you draft a college player #2.

With that being said I do tend to agree with the point you were trying to make though about slowing the anticipation for the next wave.

I have been drinking and I can show you stats. The Cubs legit have promoted 5 starters in the past year. Add in there age and it rare. Byron Buxton is back in the minors and he was declared a cant miss. Baez and Soler may not completely start for this team, but they would start for 85% of the league. That does not happen often. When a 26 year old Anthony Rizzo is your grizzled vet, its saying something.