Chicago Cubs Get High Marks in Latest Farm System Ranking

The Chicago Cubs are thought of as one of the best farm systems in the game.

Cade Horton sits during a warmup at Four Winds Feild on June 22, 2023. / MATTIE NERETIN / USA TODAY NETWORK

With the MLB draft fast approaching, there will be plenty of new hyped prospects entering pro ball.

Until then, clubs will be using their farm systems to help their big league team with call-ups or using them in trades. The Chicago Cubs were recently ranked in the top five of Bleacher Report's newest list of the best systems in baseball.

This has been a consensus thought since the beginning of the season. After blowing things up by trading away their World Series core, the Cubs have rebuilt their prospect catalog pretty quickly.

In Bleacher Report's description of the teams, they provided the Top 10 prospects with a tier attached to each player, with "Tier 1" meaning that player ranks in their own Top 100 prospects.

Chicago has six tier one players.

Their system is headlined by their three biggest prospects, Cade Horton, Owen Caissie and Matt Shaw, all of whom are in Bleacher Report's Top 50.

What makes those three players so intriguing, and why they boost the profile of this pipeline so highly, is that they're all close to the Majors.

Horton and Caissie are both in Triple-A and Shaw is at Double-A.

Horton is arguably the best right-handed pitching prospect in the game, featuring a mid to upper 90s fastball and plus-plus slider. Caissie and Shaw, both taken in the 2020 draft, could both see Major League time this season.

Outside of the Cubs' "big three," they still have three other very good prospects in James Triantos, Kevin Alcantara and Jefferson Rojas. While these three aren't considered in that elite level like the others, they're still thought of very highly.

What is important to keep an eye on with the second group is their names coming up in trade talks.

Because everything is so close in the National Leauge right now, the Cubs are still in the Wild Card race. The team's top prospects are likely untouchable, but players like Triantos and Alcantara will carry enough value that they could be pieces in a big potential trade at the deadline to get Chicago into the playoffs.

With the pitching staff built as is, it's a playoff caliber rotation.

The team has building blocks in the lineup, but they still need upgrades at positions like third base, catcher and in the bullpen. When a farm system is deep enough like the Cubs' pipeline is, they can afford to lose Top 100 prospects because they still have enough talent remaining.

In terms of the second tier of their system, a player like Moises Ballesteros boosts the overall ranking even further, because it appears he is their catcher of the future. With starting catcher Miguel Amaya posting a 47 OPS+ in 2024, Ballesteros is one of their more important prospects.

Chicago is once again building a bright future, much in the same way that they started to do before their eventual World Series win in 2016.