Recently Baseball America released their list of who they thought the top 100 prospects were and they had five Chicago Cubs prospects make their list.
The Cubs had two of their prospects’ insiders James Triantos and Jefferson Rojas fall just short of Baseball Americas list but didn’t miss it by much.
Recently, MLB.com and MLB Pipeline released their annual lists of their top 100 prospects, and the Cubs again have seven players on the top MLB list, with Matt Shaw again being the best among them.
Seven Chicago Cubs on MLB’s top 100 prospects list
Having so many valuable prospects not only add depth in case of injury but allows for so much flexibility If one of them doesn’t pan out fully then you have others to step up and take their place. Having seven on the list is impressive and destroys the narrative that the Cubs are bad at finding talent.
Shaw is set to compete and possibly win the starting third base job for the Cubs out of spring training. Shaw who is ranked by MLB as the No. 19 prospect in baseball has shown the capabilities to play third and has been studying films of great third basemen like Alex Bregman and Nolan Arenado to help his game. Shaw will show the ability to put the bat on the ball by having his hit tool graded at 60/80 and having a career average in the minors of .303.
The one thing that Shaw will have to work on with moving over to third is getting a stronger arm. Given he was drafted as a shortstop, Shaw certainly will have the range to get to hard grounders which should compensate for his weaker arm. However, for the balls to hit in the hole or down the line that is where Shaw will need a cannon like Arenado to get a speedy baserunner out quickly.
The rest of the players on the list are pitcher Cade Horton at No. 52, outfielder Owen Caissie at No. 54, catcher Moises Ballesteros No. 69, infielder James Triantos No. 73, Kevin Alcantara No. 90, and infielder Jefferson Rojas No. 97. All of whom, except for Rojas, reached Triple-A last season with Alcantara being the only one to make his debut with the Cubs last season.
Cade Horton
The 23-year-old Horton was on track to make his debut with the Cubs last season before being derailed with a subscapular strain in his shoulder. A pitcher with a four-pitch mix, Horton has a plus fastball (60/80) and plus-plus slider (70/80) that figure to be his strikeout pitches. Horton also carries a solid curveball (50/80) and a below-average changeup in his arsenal with decent overall control (55/80).
“Horton’s plus-plus mid-80s slider with two-plane depth was as effective as ever last season, producing a 49 percent chase rate and 50 percent swing-and-miss rate. His fastball dipped slightly when his shoulder began bothering him, but when healthy, he operates in the mid-90s and peaks at 98 mph with carry and run. He’ll use a low-80s curveball to give hitters a different look, while his upper-80s changeup has some fade and can miss bats, but he has trouble throwing it for strikes.”
Horton recently said he wanted a “seat on the plane” and has said he would even be open to being a reliever for the Cubs if that were what would get him there. The Cubs currently have an open spot in the rotation and Horton will figure to get a decent amount of looks this spring to see if he is worthy of taking that spot.
Owen Caissie and Kevin Alcantara
Both Caissie and Alcantara will start the year in the minor leagues without having an everyday spot in the outfield with them being blocked. Currently, Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Kyle Tucker, and Seiya Suzuki are all in the mix for the outfield with Alexander Canario being the fourth outfielder given he has more major league experience.
Caissie has the potential to be a solid big-league outfielder possibly being a star one day with the potential to be a power bat in either of the corner outfield spots. Caissie’s best two tools are his power and his arm which both grade at 60/80 with being a decent fielder at 50/80. Spending all of last season at Triple-A where he hit .278/.375/.473 for an OPS of .848 Caissie said at Cubs Con that what he expects for this season is that he wants to win and do it with the boys.
“We want to win. That’s the ultimate goal,” Cubs outfield prospect Owen Caissie said at the Cubs Convention earlier this month. “We want to bring a championship back to this city. And I want to do it with my boys. That’s all I want, is to win. And I feel like we have the core to do it.”
For Alcantara, he is in the same boat as Caissie as not having an everyday spot on the major league roster to get consistent at-bats. The 6-6 righty is tall for a centerfielder but provides plus defense due to his speed grading at 60/80 and his fielding grading the same. Alcantara was very productive for the Cubs last season during his climb from Double-A to the MLB having a slash line of .278/.353/.428 and an OPS of .781 and had one hit in his brief cup of coffee with the Cubs.
James Triantos and Jefferson Rojas
Triantos has the ability to be a really productive major league once he is called up to the show and will be an elite bat-to-ball hitter. Last season Triantos had a .300 average with 133 hits in 115 games with also swiping 47 bags and only being caught 9 times. Given that Triantos is so versatile that could help get him to Wrigley faster given he has the ability to play second, third, and centerfield.
Jefferson Rojas is the only one on this list who won’t be making his debut this year with MLB estimating that to happen in 2026. The 19-year-old shortstop has decent grades with his best being his arm grading at a 60/80. Spending his time a High-A last season where he hit .245/.310/.336 with an OPS of .646 in 96 games. Rojas will have to take the next step offensively to take the next step in his development.
Moises Ballesteros
Ballesteros has the potential to be the next Kyle Schwarber for the Cubs with Moises being on the same trajectory. Having a more elite bat that defense the Cubs have been kicking around the thought of moving Ballesteros off of catcher if he can’t show he can improve. The Cubs brought in veteran catcher Carlos Perez and Reese McGuire as depth options who could act as mentors for Ballesteros. Ballesteros could force his way onto the Cubs roster early this season if he shows out down in Triple-A and can show he is capable of handling a pitching staff.
An exciting time to be a Cubs fan
Having all these exciting prospects coming down the pike should be a jolt of youthful energy to the Cubs clubhouse.
With Shaw possibly going to be the Cubs starting third baseman come Opening Day potentially seeing him light up the Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers during the Japan Series has me already waiting to wake up early to see it.
The Chicago Cubs have something special going on the potential for them to end their playoff drought is high, especially with all these top prospects.
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