NEWSLETTER
A couple Chicago Cubs prospects have received league honors for their scorching hot weeks.
James Triantos, who is on the cusp of being considered a consensus top-100 prospect, raked his way to Southern League Player of the Week:
“Tennessee Smokies (Cubs) second baseman James Triantos batted .393/.438/.607 and led the league in average (.393), hits (35), runs (22) and stolen bases (16). He finished second in total bases (54), slugging percentage (.607) and OPS (1.045) and was fourth in on-base percentage (.438). He recorded 11 multi-hit games and separate hitting streaks of seven and eight games. Triantos, 21, was selected by Chicago (NL) in the second round of the 2021 MLB Draft out of Madison High School in Vienna, Virginia.”
On the year, Triantos, 21, is hitting .311/.349/.467/138 wRC+, 4.5% BB, 9.6% K, .156 ISO, .322 BABIP. He is doing it while quite young for Double-A, and you have to wonder if he’s going to see Iowa before the year is over.
Meanwhile, down in Arizona, Cubs outfield prospect Anderson Suriel put up a comical set of numbers and won weekly honors in the Arizona Complex League:
“Cubs outfielder Anderson Suriel batted .393/.471/.770 and led the league in slugging percentage (.770) and OPS (1.241). He finished second in average (.393), total bases (47), home runs (five) and RBI (20) and was fourth in the league in hits (24), doubles (six), and on-base percentage (.471). Suriel, 21, was signed by Chicago (NL) as an international free agent out of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on November 26, 2019.”
Suriel is putting up a huge .323/.414/.667/161 wRC+ slash line this year, and you may immediately be wondering why you haven’t heard much about him. There are a couple reasons: (1) he is a 21-year-old who is repeating rookie ball for the second time (he’s only three months younger than Triantos!), and (2) his strikeout rate was still above 30% as of a couple weeks ago. Combine those two factors, and the hill to climb for excitement is pretty darn steep.
That said, Suriel has finally gotten the strikeout rate down closer to 20% (still pretty high when you consider his age and experience), and he could still get relatively close to a normal age/level track if he is in High-A by sometime next year. He managed only 46 games total in the ACL between 2022 and 2023, so he’s still relatively “young” in terms of professional experience.
We’ll really need to see Suriel putting up huge numbers in full-season ball before getting too excited, and hopefully that comes soon. Specifically, I really hope the bump to at least Low-A Myrtle Beach is coming very soon so that we’ll get a good chunk of time to see how he adjusts to better competition.
