A couple of weeks following the release Baseball Prospectus' top Cubs prospects list, John Sickels from MinorLeagueBall.com has unveiled his top 20 list of the Cubs' prospects, along with a few honorable mentions. Baseball America' top prospects in the Cubs system is due to be released on January 12th.
Josh Vitters once again is tops in the system with Jeff Samardzija coming in at number two while Tyler Colvin has dropped to number seven and Donald Veal has fallen out of the top 10....
The trade of Jose Ceda to the Marlins for Kevin Gregg appears to have weakened an already questionable, at best farm system.
Baseball Prospectus Top 11 Cubs' Prospects (November 12th):
Five-Star Prospects
1. Josh Vitters
Four-Star Prospects
2. Jeff Samardzija
3. Jose Ceda (traded to the Marlins on November 13th for Kevin Gregg)
Three-Star Prospects
4. Hak-Ju Lee - Scouting Report on Hak-Ju Lee
5. Andrew Cashner
6. Tyler Colvin
7. Dae-Eun Rhee
8. Ryan Flaherty
Two-Star Prospects
9. Welington Castillo
10. Donald Veal
11. Micah Hoffpauir
Report from Baseball Prospectus
Minor League Ball's Top 20 Cubs' Prospects:
1. Josh Vitters - Grade B+
2. Jeff Samardzija - Grade B
3. Ryan Flaherty - Grade B
4. Andrew Cashner - Grade B-
5. Hak-Ju Lee - Grade B-
6. Jay Jackson - Grade B-
7. Tyler Colvin - Grade C+
8. Welington Castillo - Grade C+
9. Dae-Eun Rhee - Grade C+
10. Aaron Shafer - Grade C+
11. Starlin Castro - Grade C+
12. Junior Lake - Grade C+
13. Dan McDaniel - Grade C+
14. Micah Hoffpauir - Grade C
15. Esmailin Caridad - Grade C
16. Donald Veal - Grade C
17. Josh Kroeger - Grade C
18. Tony Thomas - Grade C
19. Chris Carpenter - Grade C
20. Mitch Atkins - Grade C
Honorable Mention by MinorLeagueBall.com
- Darwin Barney
- Justin Bristow
- Mathew Cerda
- Hung-Wen Chen
- Dumas Garcia
- Brandon Guyer
- Josh Harrison
- Dylan Johnston
- Casey Lambert
- Alex Maestri
- Jovan Rosa
- Drew Rundle
- Marquez Smith
- Logan Watkins
- Ty Wright
John Sickels added the players in the honorable mention list could be ranked "anywhere from 14-20 depending on what you are looking for."
Sickels stated he really likes Jay Jackson and feels "he is going to surprise a lot of people." Tyler Colvin on the other hand started hitting better last season when he wasn't "trying to work the count."
Sickels agreed with Kevin Goldstein (Baseball Prospectus) about the Cubs farm system and said "the Cubs system has thinned out, and there is no one with impact hitting potential at the higher levels." Sickels also added both Jeff Samardzija and Andrew Cashner could either "flame out" or turn into the next Bobby Jenks.
Click Here for the Full Report on the Cubs' Farm System from John Sickels
i see matt cerda got a mention.. keeping an eye out for him
Our farm system is questionable, in part, because the named prospects are so young. Some have had health issues that have limited playing time. So we need the 2009 season for a half dozen of them to rise to 2-3 status or to become new top 10's.
The rating (or lack therof) for prospects older than 24 has always puzzled me. I don't see how Hoffpauir can be a two star prospect--unless that's about as high as it gets for a guy who is 27.
Thats a product of a very thin 2003, 2004,2005 drafts and then not having 2nd, 3rd, 4th round in 2006 and no 2nd round in 2007. We've made that up somewhat with sandwich picks in 2007 (Donaldson) and 2008 with (Flaherty).
What about Jason Dubois? Is he not considered a prospect any longer, or have we let him go?
Dubois hasn't been considered a propsect in 4 years. After the Cubs, I think he was with Cleveland and then he came back to the Cubs system.