The Chicago Cubs pitching prospects are an interesting group that have a chance to contribute to the Chicago Cubs in 2025.
The Chicago Cubs have one of the best farm systems in all of baseball coming into the 2025 Major League Baseball season. Cub fans should be excited to see a lot of their positional players debut like top prospect Matt Shaw who will compete to win the starting third base job in Spring Training. However, there are a lot of pitching prospects that have the chance to either make their Major League debut with the Chicago Cubs this season, or really establish themselves after coming up for a brief time with the Cubs at some point last season.
Cade Horton (Cubs #3 prospect, MLB #42)
Number three overall prospect in the organization as well as the 42nd overall in all of Major League Baseball, right-hander Cade Horton has the chance to be the Cubs top overall prospect in 2025 with the possibly promotion of Matt Shaw and Owen Caissie possibly being traded before the season. I wrote extensively on what Horton can contribute for the Cubs in 2025 so I’ll link that here.
Jack Neely (#17 overall prospect)
The 24-year-old Neely should be an interesting player to watch for the Cubs in spring training. Debuting with the Cubs last season where he made nine relief appearances in which he had a 9.00 ERA, with seven strikeouts in six innings pitched. Having a really nice slider that figures to be his best pitch with a fastball that can hit 97, Neely has a chance to be a really dominant late inning reliever for the Cubs.
The Chicago Cubs currently have Porter Hodges as their option to take down the ninth inning, with Tyson Miller, newly signed Caleb Thielbar, and Keegan Thompson all figuring to be high-leverage reliever Neely if he performs well in spring training could win a spot in the last middle relief role the Cubs have left open and eventually work his way to the backend if he can show he can perform.
Michael Arias (Cubs #18 overall prospect)
Michael Arias struggled in thirty-three relief appearances at Triple-A last season where he had a 5.45 ERA. The sidewinding right-hander has the chance to be a really solid bullpen option for the Chicago Cubs if he can learn to consistently throw strikes.
Being he’s a sidewinder, his fastball will have a lot of run on in and given he can get it up to around 98-mph in spurts it could be an effective weapon for him. Protecting him by adding him to the 40-man roster the Chicago Cubs expect Arias to figure it out and become a really solid late inning reliever.
Brandon Birdsell (#21 overall prospect)
Brandon Birdsell, along with Cade Horton has a chance to be an internal option for the Chicago Cubs to turn to to give them much needed depth for their starting rotation. Splitting his time between Double and Triple-A last season where he was solid. In 135.2 innings in which he made 26 starts Birdsell had a record of 8-9 with an ERA of 3.91, 1.283 WHIP, and striking out 134 batters.
Birdsell has a plus fastball, with a good curveball and slider, with a changeup that he is still developing. If an injury occurs Birdsell could figure to be a solid option to set in given the Chicago Cubs currently have more left-handed pitchers for their starting rotation that right-handed. Figuring to be a decent backend of the rotation guy Birdsell could be called up at some point this season.
Brody McCullough, Will Saunders, Drew Gray, and Caleb Kilian (back end prospects)
Brody McCullough, Will Saunders, Drew Gray, and Caleb Kilian are all currently starting pitchers in the Chicago Cubs organization. Now the possibility of all them coming up and becoming starters in the Chicago Cubs rotation are slim. Brody McCullough has the best chance of the bunch with him proving to have the most success.
Will Saunders projects to be a multi-inning reliever for whenever he is called up. Given the need for young and controllable starting pitching the Cubs could use him in a trade at some point given his status in the depth chart. Gray could figure to be a solid option for the bullpen given the Chicago Cubs needs for lefties there. And Kilian also figures to be a bullpen piece in the end as well.
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