NEWSLETTER
The MLB Pipeline crew has released a full midseason rerank of the top-100 prospect list, and despite multiple names graduating off for the Cubs, they STILL have SEVEN prospects on the new list:
17. Cade Horton, RHP
30. Matt Shaw, INF
35. Owen Caissie, OF
54. James Triantos, INF
61. Moises Ballesteros, C
66. Kevin Alcántara, OF
87. Jefferson Rojas, SS
Pete Crow-Armstrong and Michael Busch (and Ben Brown and Jordan Wicks) graduated earlier this year, yet the Cubs still show up all over the list. You might like to see a little better balance of pitching and hitting, but it’s still a the-more-the-merrier situation.
Horton and Shaw generally show up in that range on most lists, while Pipeline is generally higher on the rest than some other services. We’ll see if that changes as others get out their midseason updates, though.
The Triantos ranking is almost certainly going to be the high midseason mark on any list, and maybe postseason, too. Some lists haven’t ever even had Triantos particularly close to the top-100, much less the top-50. That said, it’s pretty hard to imagine what he’s done this year – .312/.348/.466/138 wRC+ as a 21-year-old at Double-A – not moving the laggards over, begrudgingly, into accepting him as at least a back-end top-100 guy at this point.
Back to that total number: yes, that’s the most in baseball. There are a few organizations with five in the top-100, but just one with six (the Mets). And the Cubs have SEVEN. So they are certainly in a good spot, in terms of quantity.
That said, I don’t know that I’d say it definitely confirms their system as the best in baseball. For one thing, prospects 101 through 200 (or whatever) are also still extremely valuable, and the cut-off at 100 is just an arbitrary, esthetic choice we’ve all made. For another thing, the Cubs don’t have any prospects in the top-15. The Orioles have only four prospects in the top-100, but ALL FOUR of them are in the top-20. That’s tough to beat, if you’re talking about org rankings on the basis of this list, alone.
And if that seems like a really big jump for Moises Ballesteros, it is:
The second largest jump among all prospects in this midseason update, which is entirely consistent with just how ridiculous Ballesteros has been. This is also why we talk about the possibility that Ballesteros could climb even further in the offseason rankings, depending on how scouts evaluate his work behind the plate the rest of this season. The bat, alone, is sending him on a rocket ship up the rankings. He’s a 20-year-old putting up near-perfect numbers at Triple-A. Of course he rocketed up!
Other relatively big changes for the Cubs include Matt Shaw climbing 10 spots, and Kevin Alcántara falling 17 spots. Each is pretty easy to understand, given the first half performances. Shaw has really caught fire, while Alcántara simply hasn’t yet found the kind of extended hot streak he’s shown in the past (and the kind that is necessary to justify top-50 type status, even for a projectable center fielder who plays good defense).
