Format = Position Player | Age on 4/1/2025 | Highest Level Played | Estimated Time of Arrival
1. 3B Matt Shaw | 23 | AAA | 2025
He’s still listed at third base because that’s what he played most this year, but Shaw is probably ticketed for the outfield with Isaac Paredes at the hot corner under team control through 2027. No reason he can’t contribute some infield innings here and there, which might be a better fit for his skillset anyway. In 121 games across two levels this year, Shaw slashed .284/.379/.488 with 21 home runs and 31 stolen bases despite a pretty slow start to the season. The 13th overall pick in 2023, he improved throughout the season, played better in AAA than AA and earned a shot to make the opening day roster but might get caught in the wash of Chicago’s off-season machinations. Probably should’ve been part of the team this year, too.
2. RHP Porter Hodge | 24 | MLB | 2024
Hodge is an odd fit here as an incumbent closer who has exhausted prospect eligibility by MLB standards but remains a few innings of breaking the 50 inning threshold used in a lot of dynasty leagues and for this list. His statcast page is a deep red, especially his 97th percentile extension and top-of-the grid xBA. Just everywhere you look, you can find support that his WHIP of 0.88 can be replicated moving forward. He sas an effective rookie closer even with an 11.6 percent walk rate, so there might even be a little upside if he can repeat his delivery better moving forward. Also, I realize he’s ranked too high here for a lot of people, but think about what you’d trade for a young, dominant closer if you needed one. That’s how he kept moving up for me. I’d send Ballesteros for him in a minute, but I don’t even think he’d cost that much.
3. OF Kevin Alcantara | 22 | MLB | 2024
Alcantara went 0 for his first 29 plate appearances and then slashed .296/.369/.456 with 14 homers and 14 steals in 104 games across two levels after that, earning the 6’6” 188 pounder a three-game shot of coffee at season’s end. He’s been young for his level every step of the way and should be part of the Opening Day outfield picture but might wind up bumped off the roster bubble.
4. C Moises Ballesteros | 21 | AAA | 2025
A left-handed hitter listed at 5’7” 215 lbs, Ballesteros finds the barrel throughout the zone with apparent ease and laces line drives the other way like he was born to do it. His bat has outpaced his defensive development, so even as he slashed .289/.354/.471 with 19 home runs and the plus plate skills he’s always shown against much older competitors, Ballesteros might have to make a leap behind the plate or wait while the Cubs play much lesser hitters at his position.
5. OF Owen Caissie | 22 | AAA | 2025
Mighty Caissie checks in at 6’3” 190 lbs with double-plus power from the left side as a hitter. In the field, he’s a right-handed throwing corner outfielder who should be fine in right or left. Caissie struggled to make contact for little stretches of the season but got hot late in the season, slashing .341/.423/.637 with six home runs and two steals over his last 23 games. His 28.4 percent strikeout rate in 127 Triple-A games was an improvement on the 31.1 percent he posted in 120 Double-A games last year and provides some encouragement that he might surprise on that front given enough time to adapt. He also stole 11 bases this year in 13 attempts after getting caught nine times in 16 attempts last year.
6. 3B Cam Smith | 22 | AA | 2025
The 14th overall pick in this summer’s draft, Smith skipped blissfully through the A-levels in just 27 games, blasting six home runs in 15 Low-A games and slashing .333/.421/.500 in 12 High-A games before rounding out the season with five games with Double-A Tennessee. A powerful right-handed bat at 6’3” 224 lbs, Smith gives the club another ready-soon third-base prospect who will probably have to play somewhere else in the majors, but that’s not a big deal so long as the club starts sorting its upper level depth soon.
7. RHP Cade Horton | 23 | AAA | 2024
Horton was getting great results early in the season at Double-A, posting a 1.10 ERA through four starts, but his velocity had backed up a bit, and the wheels came off in Triple-A. His ERA landed at 7.50 through five starts covering 18 innings. He allowed four home runs and a 1.56 WHIP before heading to the injured list with a right lat strain, an injury he couldn’t shake before season’s end. It’s hard to rank him right now because he was among the best pitching prospects in the game before the velocity decreased, and he could open 2025 right back at that level and push for an early season rotation spot.
8. 2B James Triantos | 22 | AAA | 2025
It’s easy to like the contact-rich Triantos, who struck out just 9.7 percent of the time in 89 Double-A games while slashing .300/.345/.437 with seven home runs and 38 stolen bases. It’s not as easy to see how he’ll mix in with this club. A second-round pick in 2021, Triantos is a right-handed hitter at 5’11” 195 lbs who can play second or third but isn’t great at either spot. Though it looks today like he’s blocked about seven different ways, thing can change in a hurry whenever the team starts sorting.
9. SS Jefferson Rojas | 19 | A+ | 2027
Early in the year, it looked like Rojas might coast into consensus top 25 status. On his 19th birthday (April 25), Rojas was slashing .338/.378/.485 with a 16.2 percent strikeout rate and a 146 wRC+ through 16 High-A games against much older players. The rest of the season (80 games), he slashed .224/.296/.303 with a 75 wRC+. At 5’11” 150 lbs with power to all fields and plus contact skills, he’s too young to generate red flags with a rough few months, but I’ll start getting worried if he doesn’t hit better in 2025.
10. SS Fernando Cruz | 18 | DSL | 2029
Cruz signed for $4 million in January and made his debut during the Dominican Summer League, slashing .215/.326/.329 with two home runs and 11 stolen bases in 25 games. Not the greatest statistical debut, but he flashed the plus defensive skills that helped make him such a heralded prospect and looked stronger than his listed size of 5’10” 160 lbs would suggest at a glance.
Thanks for reading!
