A Few Thoughts on the Cubs' Farm System

 I've mentioned quite a bit in the past about the Cubs' farm system, including some in-depth research on top Cubs prospects like Brennen Davis, James Triantos, Caleb Kilian and others, but I just want to take a little time to write about some of my general thoughts on the Cubs' farm system.

This includes all the MiLB levels from Low A (the Myrtle Beach Pelicans) to Triple A (the Iowa Cubs). As a opening thought, the Cubs' system is often over-looked in the amount of talent (especially unique talent) that is in it. After the 2016 prospects like Bryant and Baez, and those like Happ that came later, the Cubs' system kind of dwindled. And it was certainly one of the top goals of Hoyer this past season to help build it back up, which I think they've been pretty successful in.

The prospects that the Cubs netted in with trades before the deadline included Kevin Alcantara, Caleb Kilian, and Pete Crow-Armstrong, among others. They drafted Jordan Wicks and James Triantos in their first two picks in the draft, both of which have shown out-of-this world potential. And those young players like Ed Howard and those they acquired in the Yu Darvish trade have seen some great playing time and are seeing some good success.

The first thought I want to mention is that players that are ready to move up in the near future (2022-2023) are players that will impact the team in a BIG way.

I'll list a few players that fit this description:

• Brennen Davis. Obviously, he's a highly talented outfielder that certainly has the ability to impact the Cubs. Hitting homers and elite fielding are just a couple of his great abilities.
• Brailyn Marquez. Even though with his injury setback and a pretty likelihood that he won't be a starter anymore, his high 90s topping out at 100s fastball and dominant pitching will be ready to impact the Cubs' bullpen.
• Caleb Kilian. He might even debut in 2022, but I think he'll be able to contribute to the Cubs' rotation as soon as 2023. I really like his pitching style, and I think it'll carry over well to a MLB level.
• Christopher Morel. He's a talented third baseman that was overlooked a little bit in 2021, but saw some great steps forward. Another Kris Bryant? It'll remain to be seen!

There are potentially a few others, but these are the main ones that I wanted to mention. Having prospects ready that will be ready to impact a team on a MLB level in the near future is something that makes you excited for that teams' future. The same goes for the Cubs.

Another thought is the young talent is super exciting. 

Ed Howard. Cristian Hernandez. James Triantos. DJ Herz. And the list goes on. With the young talent (as in Low A-High A usually), I think it's pretty position player heavy with talent, although I'm not trying to undermine those pitchers that are pretty exciting. There are those that have yet to prove themselves in the Cubs' system, but nevertheless you can see raw talent that is ready to be developed.

If you want to check out all those young players, you can see the Myrtle Beach Pelicans' roster here: Roster | Pelicans (milb.com)

You have Kohl Franklin coming back from an injury-filled year. Pete Crow-Armstrong ready for his first full year in the Cubs' org. James Triantos with his first year in the minor leagues. It's all very exciting to see, and although they'll all progress differently, I'm almost hoping they'll get up to the major leagues soon!

An interesting thought that was sparked lately is the depth of the Cubs' farm system.

Greg Huss recently posted this question: 

Responses so far: Nwogu, Aliendo, Velazquez, Herz, Vazquez, Pinango, Espinoza, Chavers, Opitz, Kobos, Franklin, Franklin, Roederer, Scalzo, Spence, Burgmann, Santana, Thompson, Ramirez, Strumpf, Palencia, Gallardo, Z Davis, Beesley, Olivo, Watkins, Devers, Arias https://t.co/O2aCv7lfSW

— Greg Huss (@OutOfTheVines) January 19, 2022

Right there shows the depth of the Cubs' system, with all the potential "sleeper" candidates. That really helps because 1) there ARE prospects that just breakout out of nowhere and 2) having depth helps in trades and wide selection to evaluate. 

In Baseball Americas' Top 100 prospects list 2022 Top 100 Prospects (baseballamerica.com) the Cubs had just two (Brennen Davis at no.16 and Cristian Hernandez at no.81), but I don't think that gives an accurate representation of how deep the Cubs' system actually is.

Anyway, that makes me pretty excited for the Cubs' future!