Even with Kris Bryant, Addison Russell and Jorge Soler no longer eligible for prospect lists, the Cubs farm system still has some of the top talents in minor league baseball.
Today both Baseball America published their midseason Top 50 prospects list and Baseball Prospectus published their Top 50 list yesterday. Three Cubs made the BA list and two Cubs were on the BP list.
Starting with the Baseball America list, catcher Kyle Schwarber was named the 6th best prospect in baseball while shortstop Gleyber Torres was 28th and outfielder Billy McKinney was 30th. Baseball Prospectus lists Schwarber 8th while Torres was 50th.
On Schwarber, BA writes that his bat is major-league ready but that he still needs to work on his defense behind hte plate. BP doesn't disagree with any of that, but adds that they could see Schwarber serving as a part-time catcher at the major league level that would increase his value.
For Torres, Prospectus praises what Torres has done for South Bend but points out that his upside is still limited. Torres has little power or speed and will likely have to move to second base at the major league level. That still makes him valuable and his performance indicates that he's much more likely to reach his ceiling than previously thought. But the ceiling is still the ceiling, which is that of a solid everyday regular. That's still a pretty good ceiling though.
BA takes a cuter approach by writing of Torres that "Yes, the Cubs have another smooth-swinging, above-average hitter to fit into a crowded infield." For McKinney, they cut and pasted that line and just replace "infield" with "outfield."
It is still good to know that despite all the graduations the Cubs have had to the majors this summer, there is still talent down on the farm.