Four Cubs make Baseball America’s updated Top 100 prospects list

Baseball America released a major update to their Top 100 prospects (subscription req.) list after the first two months of the season and there are now four Cubs players among the top 100. That is twice as many as the two prospects the Cubs had on the pre-season list.

• Outfielder Brennen Davis is still the top-ranked Cubs’ prospect, but his slow, injury-plagued start has him dropping from number 16 (in a minor earlier update) to number 41. Davis was ranked as the 13th-best prospect in the pre-season list.
• On the other hand, outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong continues to impress. After being left off the pre-season list and coming in at 74 in that lesser update, Crow-Armstrong is now ranked as the 48th-best prospect in all of baseball.
• Shortstop Cristian Hernandez is now ranked as the 85th-best prospect in baseball. That’s about where they’ve had him all along, which makes sense as the Cubs are holding off the start of his season for the Arizona Complex League which starts next week. Hernandez was 81st in the off-season list and 76th in the minor update. That’s mostly just a bit of jostling because of what other prospects have done rather than any change of opinion on Hernandez.
• Finally, right-handed pitcher Caleb Kilian makes an appearance on the list at number 100. This is Kilian’s first appearance on Baseball America’s top 100 prospect list.

The big story here is clearly Crow-Armstrong, who is getting his first real chance to play this season and has been impressive. Just this week, Crow-Armstrong was promoted from low-A Myrtle Beach to high-A South Bend after hitting .354/.443/.557 and showing a lot more power than most observers thought he had. He’s also lived up to everyone’s expectations as an exceptional center fielder.

Kilian has also been opening eyes this spring with a 2.06 ERA over nine starts in Triple-A Iowa.

Both Crow-Armstrong and Kilian came to the Cubs at the trade deadline last summer. Crow-Armstrong was acquired for Javier Báez and Trevor Williams and Kilian was part of the package with outfielder Alexander Canario for Kris Bryant.