Keith Law’s top 100 prospect list featured three Cubs — Pete Crow-Armstrong (26), Kevin Alcántara (29), and Brennen Davis (50) — but others were teased as being among a group that just missed. Or “just missed the just missed list,” as it were. Chief among those was James Triantos, who is ranked 11th by MLB Pipeline but shows up at No. 4 in Law’s ranking of the top 20 Cubs prospects.
A right-handed hitter who was hampered by the pitcher-friendly environs at Myrtle Beach, Triantos has the kind of offensive skills that Law says will make him “at least an average regular” at second base. How that works for him given the Cubs’ current middle infield situation is a big question, but Triantos is going to need at least two more years in the system before any answers are required.
The rest of the list leaves me with a lot of questions and I believe Law is too low on Matt Mervis (No. 12), though that’s not a surprise based on his previous scouting report. I’m not going to share all the rankings because The Athletic requires a subscription and I don’t want to poach their material, so below are some rankings I found interesting for one reason or another.
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7) Miguel Amaya
The catcher was once among the top three prospects in the system and has fallen based on so much missed time due to injuries and the pandemic. Law believes he could end up in Chicago as the primary backstop by the end of the year if his health holds up, and the note about potential 20-home run power is nice.
8) Jordan Wicks
Law says the lefty lacks a “clear average breaker,” which I don’t think is accurate.
15) Owen Caissie
Even more than Mervis, this feels super low to me. That’s based on possible subpar defense and questions about his ability to hit lefties.
19/20) Moises Ballesteros/Pablo Aliendo
Having two more catchers here at the back end of the list really stood out, particularly when Law almost fat-shamed one and damned the other with faint praise. I know this is all a matter of being honest and objective, but it’s more than mildly weird at times when the breakdowns are so blunt.
That goes beyond just the catchers, like when Law wrote,” I don’t know what to do with [Kohl Franklin] at this point.” Superlatives being followed by seemingly harsh critiques make it sound like the Cubs are merely out here trying to polish turds when that’s not the case in actuality. I certainly hope that’s not what Law is insinuating, it just comes across that way.
Go check out the list for yourself if you’ve got access and then share your own thoughts below.
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