2018 Chicago Cubs Top 10 Prospects Chat

J.J. Cooper: JJ, not John, will be answering your questions beginning at 2 p.m. ET.

J.J. Cooper: Hey everyone. Thanks for coming out. With John now working for the Twins, I’m your pinch hitter for today’s Cubs chat, but as we do with all of our teams, our whole team was involved in helping line up the Top 30, so I’m looking forward to talking Cubs prospects.

Paul (Chicago, IL): Would the Cubs' system be considered to be in the bottom five right now?

J.J. Cooper: Hey everyone. To start this out on a down note, yes I’d agree. This is one of the thinner farm systems in baseball right now. So how did they get here? By having a whole lot of success. Few teams that graduate the wave of prospects that Chicago did from 2014-2016 follow that up with anything equivalent, but more than that, the Cubs have traded away Gleyber Torres and Eloy Jimenez in the past two seasons. If the Cubs still had both of them, they would be a top 10 farm system in my mind–that’s how valuable having two Top 10 Prospects is for a team. Instead, Chicago doesn’t have a sure-fire Top 100 Prospect and most of the best prospects are several years away.

Sammy (DC): I see D.J. Wilson topped three categories, yet didn't make the top 10. Why is this?

J.J. Cooper: Because the hit tool is a very important tool. There’s little question Wilson is the most well-rounded prospect in the Cubs’ farm system among position prospects, but he also has a long ways to go at the palte. There’s power there, but he hit .230 in low Class A last year as a prospect on the slow track–he didn’t make his full season debut until his second full season. Wilson could end up being the best big leaguer out of anyone in the current Cubs Top 30, but it’s going to take a while and there’s a lot of risk that he will never reach his very significant ceiling.

Don (Rosemont, IL): What are your thoughts on Trevor Clifton after a tough season in his first exposure to AA?

J.J. Cooper: He’s got to be better in 2018. His season fell apart around the all-star break as the sharpness of his secondary pitches got worse and worse. It will be interesting to see whether the Cubs protect him when 40-man rosters have to be set next week. I’d guess they will, but it’s not as certain as it would have been coming into the 2017 season. The stuff is still there, but he has to find his breaking balls again.

Eric (Dallas, TX): Was Keegan Thompson a candidate to make the top 10? How's his stuff compared to the better SPs in the system?

J.J. Cooper: He didn’t miss the Top 10 by a ton, but a pitchability 2017 third-round pick is the kind of pitcher you want to give a year to prove himself in pro ball before considering him for a Top 10 spot. I’d expect him to move pretty quickly and get an aggressive Opening Day assignment in 2018 thanks to his control and feel.

Jon (Peoria): How would you compare Ademan's ceiling at the same age with that of Gleybar Torres? Is Ademan being the top prospect more of a reflection of how good he can be or the impact of the trades and promotions on the organization?

J.J. Cooper: It’s more of the latter. The Cubs and other scouts like Ademan, but Gleyber Torres was considered one of the top prospects in the 2013 international class and he’s lived up to those expectations ever since. Ademan is a solid prospect in his own right, but he doesn’t have Torres’ power, hit tool or athleticism. Torres is one of the best prospects in baseball, Ademan is a solid prospect who can stay up the middle, has excellent instincts and enough tools to be a productive big leaguer, but that doesn’t really put him into a comparison with Torres.

Dan (Baltimore): How unusual is it that a system’s top prospect does not rank as having any of the “top tools” and is not a part of the projected lineup?

J.J. Cooper: Somewhat unusual, but then there are few combos like this where you have a nearly airtight big league lineup of young productive big leaguers and a thinned-out farm system. I’ve said many a time that our future lineups are only a useful exercise, nothing more, but in this case, it is notable that everyone in that Cubs’ projected lineup is already playing in Chicago and the oldest of them (Anthony Rizzo) will only be 31 in 2021.

Jeff (Work): Once I get past health and arm strength what am I loving about Alzolay? Is he ranked ahead of guys like Hatch, Albertos, and Lange on reaching AA or is there more to the story?

J.J. Cooper: Those are Alzolay’s strengths, but in this system a potentially reliable back-of-the-rotation starter looks pretty good. Albertos has more upside, but he also has yet to pitch in full season ball and has less than 50 pro innings. Lange has to add a third pitch and has enough of a medical concern that his signing bonus was reduced. Hatch needs to prove he can throw strikes. All four of the pitchers you mentioned have plenty left on the to-do list, but Alzolay is closest to the majors of the four.

MrBaseball (Albuquerque): Would it be fair to say that, after graduating so many players to the bigs and trading away so many others, the Cubs have the weakest farm system in the NL Central?

J.J. Cooper: Yes. I think they are pretty clearly the fifth of those five. The Reds, Brewers and Cardinals are all deep farm systems right now with a number of Top 100 Prospects. The Pirates depth has thinned from what it was a couple of years ago, but it’s still clearly better than the current Cubs system.

Kevin (Chicago): My Cubs' fans friends are all about trying to trade for Christian Yelich. Do they have the farm system to get that done, assuming Happ or Schwarbs would be headliner?

J.J. Cooper: Well yeah, because if you start with Happ or Schwarber, the prospects that need to be included will be clearly just contributing pieces to a deal. I don’t think the Cubs have the talent to do the trade solely based on minor leaguers, but if you can add a young big leaguer to the mix, then it’s a lot easier to find a doable package.

Roger H. (Oklahoma City, OK): What can you tell me about Dillion Maples? Could he be the future closer or set-up for the Cubbies? If so when do you think he could step into the role?

J.J. Cooper: If his control gets better he has late-inning stuff. The Cubs bullpen is still unsettled enough that it’s not like the current bullpen will block talented pitchers from taking on larger responsibilities quickly. But Maples has to show he can throw enough strikes to be trusted in the sixth or seventh, much less the eighth or ninth.

Aj (Chicago): How is Dillon Maples not in the top 10 when he has two of the best pitches in the organization. I see him as a potential future closer.

J.J. Cooper: Because he has a long history of durability issues and his control is still a long ways from late-inning ready. Every now and then a pitcher with exceptional stuff and bottom-of-the-scale control figures it out and becomes a dominant closer, but it’s a pretty rare occurrence. It worked for Craig Kimbrel who went from walking 6 per nine in 2010 to being a dominating closer in 2011. Hopefully for Maples that’s his development path, but more often, a pitcher with Maples’ control issues has a much rockier introduction to the big league bullpen.

Ben (NorCal): I know he is very much outside the top 10, but I have been following Bryan Hudson with high hopes. He didn't have a great year number wise but how about on the development side? Is there hope that his stuff becomes good/consistant enough to be in a major league rotation?

J.J. Cooper: He didn’t miss by all that much because he has starter traits, but he needs to find a little more velo and start attacking with the curveball more if he’s going to put it all together.

Sammy (DC): After Caratini, is Miguel Amaya the next best catcher in this system? What's the skinny on his skillset?

J.J. Cooper: Yes, he’s a long ways away, and he has the tools to develop into an everyday catcher, but there are many years of hard work between where he is now and any potential big league job.

Frank (Indianapolis, IN): How many of these guys could make BA's 100 list, if any?

J.J. Cooper: Ademan and Alzolay both feel to me like the kind of players who get consideration for the Top 100, but I wouldn’t be shocked if the Cubs are shut out.

Oscar the Grouch (Sesame Street): Is Alex Lange not considered to project as a SP further down the line? Your scouting report alludes to relief in his future.

J.J. Cooper: This is a debate that has been going on long before the Cubs drafted Lange. Scouts have long thought that he could be an excellent reliever, but there’s not really a reason to make that decision yet. He’s going to have to improve to stay in the rotation, but he has a very good fallback position.

Jacob (Dallas, TX): What do you see in Javier Assad? Is he someone to watch for in the org top 10 this time next year?

J.J. Cooper: I think if he makes the Top 10 it would probably be in two years, not one. His stuff is of the sort that you feel better slotting him in the Top 10 after he’s handled the jump to Double-A and gotten more advanced hitters out. But he’s a Top 30 Prospect right now.

Mitchell Baker (Indiana University): Does Jose Albertos still have the most talent on this list, but he’s #3 because of risk/age?

J.J. Cooper: Yep. I wouldn’t be shocked at all to see Albertos No. 1 on this list next year, but there’s only so much you can do to run up an 18-year-old who has yet to pitch in full season ball and has less than 50 pro innings.

Juan peguero (Dominican republic): Who Latin player going to be in top 30

J.J. Cooper: I would expect that close to a third of the Cubs Top 30 will be international signees.

Steve (Tampa): Which cubs do you think will have the most impact on the 2018 major league team? Do you think Maples will make the team out of Spring training?

J.J. Cooper: Maples is the logical pick as he already made it to Chicago in 2017 and he has the stuff to be a contributor in relief with even fringy control.

David (Brooklyn): Seems like there's a few red flags on Jen-Ho Tseng -- not a lot of Ks, lots of flyballs, and no real dominant pitches. Any reasons to think he could develop into a successful starter?

J.J. Cooper: Every team can use a durable and reliable starting pitcher with fringy stuff. He’s a perfect example of a “sixth starter” to me. In an ideal world, Tseng will spend a lot of time in Triple-A for the next few years. But whenever injuries crop up, he’s the kind of pitcher an organization is glad to have because he can pitch enough to keep you in games whenever the team needs a fill-in starter.

Dan (St. Paul, MN): Is David Bote's AFL performance an accurate indicator of his potential, or is he merely a utility guy or trade bait?

J.J. Cooper: Bote can hit, so his strong AFL isn’t all that shocking. That said, his best hope of a role in the big leagues in Chicago is as a Tommy La Stella type, and La Stella is more valuable in that role because he hits lefty. If the Cubs don’t add him to the 40-man roster, he makes some sense as a Rule 5 pick for a team looking for an inexpensive second baseman/third baseman/corner outfielder.

Dave (Mpls): What happened to Zagunis? He put up a good year, the system thinned out, yet he dropped out of the top 10. What's the reason?

J.J. Cooper: There are more and more questions about what his big league role is. He’s got a fight ahead of him to prove he can be more than an up-and-down guy as a corner outfielder as he lacks the defensive chops to be a fourth outfielder. With the Cubs’ lineup depth in Chicago, it’s going to be hard for Zagunis to avoid spending a good bit of time in Iowa.

J.J. Cooper: Thanks for all the questions. We’ll be back Wednesday with the Pirates Top 10 Prospects and chat.