Moises Ballesteros, Jaxon Wiggins Top MLB Pipeline’s Updated Top 30 Cubs Prospects List

MLB Pipeline has slowly been rolling out its updated top 30 lists, and several teams still have “Coming soon…” displayed. The Cubs are no longer one of those, however, as Pipeline dropped those rankings on Tuesday. There weren’t many surprises from what I see, though I think a little breakdown is worthwhile. You really should go to their site to view individual scouting reports, but the raw list is below for quick reference.

The first thing that struck me was the relative lack of youth, as the Cubs have only one teenager in the top 10 and only seven overall. Slugging outfielder Josiah Hartshorn comes in at No. 8 prior to suiting up in a professional game, and he’s got a 2028 ETA. Contrast that with the Brewers’ top-ranked farm system, which is led by two teenagers with at least 140 minor league games apiece.

The Guardians are more like the Cubs when it comes to a dearth of uber-young top prospects, but three of their top five are already at the MLB level and second baseman Travis Bazzana should be up this year. While No. 1 Cubs prospect Moisés Ballesteros is expected to get a lot of at-bats as the DH, Kevin Alcántara (No. 4) keeps getting shunted to the side in favor of veteran outfielders. He’s been surpassed in the rankins by Ethan Conrad, last summer’s No. 17 overall pick out of Wake Forest.

Perhaps the most glaring issue with the Cubs’ list is that Jaxon Wiggins (2) is the only pitcher among the top 12. Righty Caelb Wing shows up at 13, and righty Dominick Reid is at 16 to lead a trio bunched together. The Brewers have three pitchers in their top 10, while the Guardians and Pirates each have four. I don’t think I clarified earlier, but those two orgs are viewed by many as being right there with the Brewers for the best in baseball right now.

Beyond the overall lack of high-end pitching, both Wing and Reid have combined for exactly zero professional innings. Brandon Birdsell (17) will miss this season following his second elbow reconstruction in the last five years, and Jostin Florentino (18) is an undersized righty with a fastball that tops out at 92 mph. With full understanding that development isn’t linear, there’s not a whole lot to be excited about with the current group of arms.

My final gripe with the system in general is that I don’t think the front office did enough to clear out some of the logjam of guys with 2026 ETAs. They moved Owen Caissie to get Edward Cabrera, but they don’t seem to be sold on Alcántara as a viable big league despite him being out of options after this season. Pedro Ramirez (9) and James Triantos (10) are infielders who won’t see time in Chicago unless things have gone very wrong, and Jonathon Long (7) feels like he could be Matt Mervis‘d.

Depending on how the season goes and what Jed Hoyer opts to do at the deadline, I could see a few of those players on the cusp getting opportunities to break through somewhere else. That’s a good problem to have, but we’ve also seen this front office hold onto guys like me with that container of sour cream in the fridge that has long since expired. How many times do I need to do that before I learn my lesson?

In case you’re wondering, the answer is somewhere north of five. The good news is that there should be plenty of money in the budget to add pieces next offseason, thus mitigating the need to have a lot of these guys come up and make an impact right away. And hey, it’s entirely possible there’s a sleeper or two who will surprise most of us.

On the whole, I just kind of shrug my shoulders and view this as a good-but-not-great group that should end up being fine when it’s all said and done.

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