Cubs Reportedly Have 'Legitimate Questions' About Slugging Prospect's Potential

One of the silver linings that came from the Chicago Cubs missing the playoffs for the past three seasons is their farm system has been turned into one of the best in all of baseball.

After resigning themselves to the fact they weren't competitors in 2021 and 2022, they were able to move some of their coveted pieces and get talented prospects back in return.

This boosted the Cubs' farm system into being rated the fourth best in the sport according to MLB Pipeline's most recent rankings.

One of their most intriguing prospects seemingly came out of nowhere when Matt Mervis, who went undrafted in 2020 before signing with Chicago, exploded onto the scene with his bat.

In 2022, the slugging first baseman made his way up to Triple-A in his second season. Across three minor league affiliates, Mervis finished the year with a slash line of .309/.379/.606, 36 home runs and 119 RBI over 137 games.

He was named the Cubs' Minor League Player of the Year following that season after leading the minors in RBI (119) and extra-base hits (79), finishing second in doubles (40) and third in homers (36).

Mervis got his shot at the bigs last season, but struggled in his 99 at-bats, posting a slash line of .167/.242/.289 with three home runs and 11 RBI before being sent back down to Triple-A in June.

Now, it seems like the organization isn't sure how he fits into their plans moving forward.

"Even within the organization, there were legitimate questions about his potential. The optimistic take was maybe he was a diamond in the rough, but the real test was always going to be major-league pitching ... He didn’t seem to know how to prepare for the day-to-day grind and struggled to handle failure ... Maybe it works for him here or somewhere else, but this team has to find better options, perhaps multiple, before giving Mervis another real shot at taking the job," reports Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic.

This comes one the heels of Chicago being continuously linked to free agent first baseman, Rhys Hoskins, and reports that if they do re-sign Cody Bellinger, he might transition into a full-time first base role soon.

Either way, it's not looking bright for Mervis with the Cubs.

There's still time for the 25-year-old to develop and improve his hitting against Major League pitching, but Chicago is looking to win right now and the organization doesn't seem to think the lefty fits that timeline.