Things continue to look up for the once sad-sack Chicago Cubs. After a successful offseason revamping in which they acquired big names like Jon Lester and Miguel Montero, the club and its fans have something else to look forward to – the No. 1 prospect, and top farm system, in all of baseball.
That’s according to ESPN baseball analyst Keith Law, who on Thursday revealed his annual ranking of the top prospects in baseball (content is behind a paywall). Atop that list is 23-yeard-old Kris Bryant, a Cubs third baseman who led all of professional baseball in home runs last year with 43. Bryant is obviously major-league ready after slashing .325/.438/.661 between Double-and-Triple-A last year, but general manager Jed Hoyer hinted last week that Bryant may not be on the opening day roster. Bryant was ranked No. 15 in the 2014 edition of the rankings but his great season moved him to the top of list. He will no doubt be in a Cubs uniform at some point in 2015.
There’s even more good news for the Cubs. Closely behind Bryant in the Top 100 rankings is shortstop prospect Addison Russell, who checked in at No. 4. The 21-year-old was the key piece in the July trade that sent Cubs ace Jeff Samardzija to the Oakland Athletics. After reaching Triple-A for three games in 2013, Russell spent almost all of 2014 in Double-A with the Athletics and Cubs organizations.
Also in the top 15 for the Cubs is Cuban right fielder Jorge Soler, who was a late August callup for the Cubs. He batted .292/.330/.573 in 97 plate appearances down the stretch and should be the everyday right fielder for the Cubs in 2015.
Add those pieces to up-and-coming stars already in the majors like Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez and it all makes the Cubs the envy of baseball, according to Law.
“The hype around their system is justified by the talent in it, with the strongest collection of top-shelf hitting prospects I can remember since I started working in baseball. They have someone coming at just about every position other than catcher and first base, and most of them fare well both in traditional evaluation and in analysis of their performance to date.”
Followed closely behind the Cubs in the rankings are two more perennial last place teams – the Minnesota Twins and Houston Astros. The Twins have the No. 2-ranked farm system and No. 2 prospect in Byron Buxton. Buxton was No. 1 in 2014 but slipped after getting only 181 at-bats last year due to injury. Astros shortstop Carlos Correa is No. 3 in the 2015 rankings as is their farm system, though Law notes it has been depleted after the big Evan Gattis trade with the Atlanta Braves.
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