Cubs Minor Parts: C.J. Edwards

C.J. Edwards, righthanded pitcher, 6-2, 155

Drafted by the Rangers in the 48th round in 2011

Acquired by the Cubs in the Matt Garza trade in 2013

Probable landing spot in 2014: Double-A Tennessee

Minor league teams don't have all that much room for worrying much about player preferences regarding uniform numbers. With 25-man rosters, rarely is there need for 'screwy' baseball numbers. While Yasiel Puig broke in his now-fabled No. 66 in Chattanooga last year, most players get a combination of "what's available" and "what fits." Most pitchers end up with numbers on the high end of 20. C.J. Edwards usually has gotten numbers like 3 and 8, as those are what fits guys who weigh less than 165 pounds.

What adds to the allure of Edwards is how few "people" have actually seen him pitch. By all accounts, he has nasty/violent late movement on a fastball that can get a bit over 93 miles per hour. In 2012, he stifled the Northwest League runners-up Boise Hawks while pitching for Spokane in the Rangers system. He is landing in the second fifty of most prospect lists

Few prospects will get more analyzed in the system, as he few have seen him enough before to accurately assess him. I imagine a few of us will closely monitor his Southern League starts this year. MiLB packages are $40, though it looked like MLB subscribers get a discount.

As it's Super Bowl Sunday, I feel obliged to post a C.J. Edwards prop bet (that I'm not paying off). Over/under on career MLB wins by Edwards: 14.5. As noted here elsewhere before, Edwards' middle name is Fleming. C.J. is a nod to his father Carl.