Chicago Cubs' Minor League System On Verge of Ranking Boost

The Chicago Cubs have turned things around since the All-Star Break and are now contenders in the National League Central.

By virtue, they didn’t sell top players at the deadline. The Cubs made some trades that required them to give up some prospects, but it didn’t impact their overall rankings as a system, per MLB.com.

In fact, when the next overall farm system rankings come out, the site believes the Cubs may be a Top 5 system — and that would be a significant progress from just two years ago.

In MLB.com’s overall rankings, the Cubs were No. 22 in the site’s preseason rankings in 2021. The Cubs could push for a Top 5 rankings when MLB.com updates them again, which usually comes after the trade deadline.

Why? Well, the Cubs have four overall Top 10 prospects right now — outfielders Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kevin Alcantara along with right-handed pitchers Cade Horton and Ben Brown. Their No. 5 overall prospect is another pitcher, left-hander Jordan Wicks.

The great news for the Cubs is that three of those players are at Triple-A Iowa — Crow-Armstrong, Brown and Wicks. That means they could help the Cubs as soon as next year.

But that isn’t all, per MLB.com:

It has even more knocking on the door, with catcher Moises Ballesteros, outfielder Owen Caissie, middle infielders Matt Shaw and James Triantos and left-hander Jackson Ferris all coming up in the discussion for next week’s Top 100.

Plus, there is plenty of pitching in the team’s Top 30 prospects. As of Sunday, there are 13 pitchers in the Cubs’ Top 30 prospects.

So the Cubs found a way to play their way back in the playoff race, not sell veteran players, trade to improve their team and not sacrifice their future?

That’s a win in anyone’s book.

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