The Chicago Cubs currently boast one of the best farm systems in all of baseball.
Jon Hoefling of USA Today recently ranked it the third best overall, only behind the Tigers and the White Sox. Some experts actually feel that the Cubs system could very well be ranked higher. The team currently has six players in MLB’s Top 100 prospects list– tied for the most in baseball.
“The Cubs haven’t had this much prospect talent since they ranked No. 1 in 2015 with a system that helped them end their 108-year World Series drought the next season. This time around, they have much more pitching depth, which could help them build a longer-term contender. Four of their MLB-high seven Top 100 prospects arrived via trades (Crow-Armstrong, Caissie, Busch, Alcántara), while Horton and Shaw continue to boost their stock since being selected in the first round of the past two Drafts.”
The talent it there, there’s no doubt about that. Chicago Cubs prospects are currently plentiful.
But will the talent continue to be there in the coming years?
Are The Chicago Cubs Headed For Farm System Disaster?
Baseball America recently polled 27 major league scouts, who were granted full anonymity to speak their mind about the state of scouting in baseball as a whole. However, of particular interest to Cubs fans, these experts in the field painted a bleak picture of the Cubs’ scouting system and the team’s ability to to continue to develop talent in the future.
When asked about which teams were most scout friendly, none of the scouts mentioned the Cubs. Conversely, when asked of the least friendly to scouting, Chicago tied for fourth, with 27% of respondents giving them that designation.
In another question, the scouts were asked about the organizations which were best at recognizing talent. None mentioned the Cubs. However, when asked about the worst organizations for recognizing talent, Chicago finished tied for seventh, with 13% of the votes.
Scouts Frown On Chicago Cubs Organization
President of the Chicago Cubs talks to the media before a game between the Chicago Cubs and the Miami Marlins at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images
All in all, the tally of this poll shows that scouts may not have the highest regard for the analytics-based methodology of the Cubs front office that swerves away from the old school in-person scouting strategies of the past.
The disdain for the Cubs organization may also be tied to the front office’s decision to fire four scouts at the end of the 2024 minor league season and restructure their approach to finding and assessing talent. The team also announced their plans to no longer scout games at any level except the complex league and Dominican Summer League.
That clearly wouldn’t sit well with veteran scouts.
Scouts Speak Out
“Smart teams will keep a lot of scouts and benefit from it,” an anonymous scout told Baseball America. “You don’t see Tampa Bay cutting scouting. Neither the Yankees or the Dodgers. The teams that cut corners will pay the price, but money trumps results, so they won’t care.”
“We have always used stats as an indicator,” another scout mentioned, possibly in reference to the shift toward use of the more Cubs-favored analytics data to assess talent. “Neither stats nor analytics can tell us everything we need to know about the player. It is a double edged sword in that it helps us in pointing us to players in some ways, yet takes away from the skill of scouting and the impact we have on what players have the best makeup, aptitude, feel in pressure situations, coachability and clubhouse chemistry.”
Obviously, the Chicago Cubs have made some changes to the traditional scouting method that established scouts do not like or appreciate. And, consequently, they do not rate the Cubs very highly in assessing talent anymore.
Will this change in scouting practices affect the Cubs negatively down the line or did the organization make a necessary and cost-effective tweak to the way information is gathered and assessed in this modern day?
As always, time will tell.
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