The Cubs farm system entered this season as the top-ranked system in baseball not only because of high-profile prospects like Kris Bryant, Addison Russell and Jorge Soler, but also because of the deep depth of the system. So while Bryant, Russell and Soler are gone to the majors, other players have stepped up to keep the Cubs farm system among the best in the game.
John Sickels of Minor League Ball came out with his Top 75 list and three Cubs made the list. But not only did three Cubs make the Top 75, all three players were ranked in the top 30. It will come as no surprise that those being honored are the same ones that Baseball America listed last week in their Top 50 and two of which made Baseball Prospectus' Top 50 list.
The players are:
Number 6: Kyle Schwarber
Number 25: Gleyber Torres
Number 28: Billy McKinney
It should be noted that Sickels did not include any 2015 draftees on his list.
In his listings, Sickels says the same things about Schwarber that you've heard elsewhere. But on Torres and McKinney, Sickels thinks that he probably has both of them ranked too low and that he expects them to be higher in his end-of-the-season rankings. So we can expect more superlatives to come.
After releasing their midseason Top 50 prospects, list, Baseball America published their midseason Top 10 Cubs prospect list. The actual article and the scouting reports are behind a paywall, but I can tell you the actual names on the list. You'll find the list of names awfully similar to the list I published earlier last week.
The Cubs midseason top 10 prospects are:
- Kyle Schwarber, C/DH
- Gleyber Torres, SS
- Billy McKinney, OF
- Duane Underwood, RHP
- Mark Zagunis, OF
- Carl Edwards Jr., RHP
- Dylan Cease, RHP
- Albert Almora, OF
- Willson Contreras, C/3B
- Pierce Johnson, RHP
The positions I have listed here are the ones that Baseball America listed. Also BA did not consider 2015 draftees eligible for the list. However, they did put notes on the top five picks in a separate part of the article.
Baseball America also listed Smokies pitcher Ryan Williams as a riser in the organization and South Bend pitcher Jake Stinnett as "falling."
All in all, things are still looking pretty good for the baby bears down on the farm.