BCB After Dark: Who’s second-best?

It’s another edition of BCB After Dark: the baseball, music and movie club for night owls, early-risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. So glad you could join us again tonight. Please come in and get warm. Let us take your hat and coat. No cover charge tonight. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Yesterday I asked you if you thought that Cubs outfielder Ian Happ should give up switch-hitting and just hit from the left side only. By a pretty strong margin of 72 percent to 28 percent, you think Happ should just forget about switch-hitting.

There’s still a lockout, but at least there is “progress” in the talks.

I don’t do movie talk on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, but you can always go back and look what I wrote about Rome, Open City last night. I’ll have a little more to say about it again tomorrow night.

But there’s always time for some jazz, so those of you who want to skip that should do so now. You won’t hurt my feelings. Unless you’re rude about it.

Tonight we have a treat in a jazz concert by pianist Jon Batiste on NPR’s “Jazz Night in America” from 2020. Most of you know Batiste primarily as the bandleader on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” but of course, he’s also a first-rate New Orleans jazz piano performer and band leader. He’s only 35 years old and already he has an Oscar and he’s likely to win his first Grammy this year as he’s been nominated 11 times.

Welcome back to those who skip the jazz.

Tonight you’re going to help me with my job. As you probably know, every year I do a ranking of the Top 20 Cubs prospects and I’m working on the 2022 edition right now.

This year has been especially difficult to rank the Cubs prospects because the system doesn’t have many elite prospects but it is swimming in very good ones. Basically, numbers two through ten on my list are practically interchangeable. At least they are in my mind.

But because I’m stuck for a topic tonight, I’m going to ask you who is the second-best prospect in the Cubs system. I’ve already made my choice and I’ll reveal it soon, but I’m asking for your opinion. I want to know what you think. Who knows? Maybe I’ll change my mind between now and when we publish. (I hope not.)

As far as who the number-one prospect, is, I’m not going to spoil it by telling you. But I’m pretty sure you already know who it is. He’s clearly the best prospect in the Cubs system at the moment and he’s not far away from the majors. Anyone who follows prospects knows who it is already. For me to pick one of these players as number one would be me being stupid for the sake of being contrarian.

So who is the second-best prospect in the Cubs system? Here’s a list of plausible candidates. I didn’t consider all of them for the number two slot, but they’re all players whom someone might reasonably say could be the second- best prospect in the Cubs system.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Please tip the waitstaff. We’ll have someone bring you your hat and coat. Get home safely. Try to stay warm. And join us again tomorrow night for another edition of BCB After Dark.