Five Cubs Prospects Get Major Boost in New Rankings

With the Arizona Fall League underway, prospects across the 30 MLB organizations are able to show what they can do against top competition.

The Chicago Cubs have been viewed as having one of the best pipelines in all of baseball and that was validated once again after Just Baseball released their new rankings following the 2023 season.

Five Cubs prospects are rated within the top-51 players according to this site, with a few getting a major boost following their successful years.

Here's where they sit on the top-100 list of Just Baseball's rankings.

18. Pete Crow-Armstrong - Outfielder

21. Cade Horton - Right Hand Pitcher

29. Owen Caissie - Outfielder

46. Kevin Alcantara - Outfielder

51. Matt Shaw - Infielder

Crow-Armstrong was Chicago's top-rated prospect heading into the 2023 season and he was able to make his Major League debut in September.

He likely will make the full-time jump to the Cubs' in 2024.

Horton was Chicago's seventh overall pick in 2022 and in his first year of professional baseball, he impressed across three different levels of the minor leagues, finishing with a 2.65 ERA in 21 games started and 117 strikeouts across 88 1/3 innings pitched.

Caissie was an original second round draft pick of the San Diego Padres in 2020 before being sent to the Cubs in the Yu Darvish trade.

The 21-year-old lefty slugger spent his entire season at the Double-A level, finishing with a slash line of .289/.398/.519, 22 home runs and 84 RBI.

"When everything is in sync for Caissie, you can see flashes of a potentially special power bat ... His average exit velocity of 94 MPH would rank among the top-15 in Major League Baseball, and his 90th percentile exit velocity of 110 MPH is one of the best figures in the entire Minor Leagues. There is foul pole-to-foul pole power potential for Caissie, who may even have more pop in the tank," Just Baseball writes about the promising prospect.

Alcantara has been shredding up the Fall League so far and continues to show why the 21-year-old is viewed so favorably.

Shaw is one of the fastest risers within the organization after being selected 13th overall in the 2023 MLB Draft. In his first year of professional baseball, the young star finished with a slash line of .357/.400/.618, eight home runs and 28 RBI across 38 games for three minor league teams.

Having five players almost within the top-50 prospects is a great sign for the franchise who has put an emphasis on developing their young talent.