They’ll arrive throughout the offseason, though Baseball America’s is usually the first to drop: the updated top Chicago Cubs prospects list, after a full season and time to digest reports. It’s a meaningful list every year, and I like to make sure to share and contemplate what it says about the farm system.
Our good friend Bryan Smith was behind this year’s list at BA, which makes it all the more intriguing:
? NEW CUBS TOP 10 PROSPECTS ? Josiah Hartshorn ranks No. 1 after a breakout 2026. He projects for 60-grade hitting ability and power one day. 2027 Top 10: t.co/u96syAbn64 t.co/3oddbySTdw
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) November 9, 2026You’ll have to head over to BA to see the full top ten plus the scouting reports, but I do want to mention some things that stuck out to me …
First round pick Cade Townsend is the new top Cubs pitching prospect (behind Josiah Hartshorn, Owen Ayers, and Kane Kepley overal), which isn’t necessarily a surprise given his pedigree, but also says a whole lot about the state of pitching in the system. After all, this is a guy who hasn’t even yet made his professional debut, and was not a top-five pick. But when the other guys who would’ve been in consideration for the spot – Jaxon Wiggins and Kaleb Wing – dealt with injury issues and have significant questions heading into 2027, it’s not surprising that an un-debuted prospect doesn’t seem any riskier. Speaking of which, Wing had Tommy John in July, so it’s possible he won’t pitch at all in 2027. And Wiggins was injured most of the year and really struggled after his return, so it’s unclear how long of a leash he’ll have at Triple-A as a starting pitcher in 2027 before the Cubs see how he looks in relief. Minor League Pitcher of the Year Brooks Caple was the only other pitching prospect to sneak onto the list, and although he was great in 2026 and could be on the radar by mid-2027, he’s seen as a lower-ceiling, back-end starter type. As far as the bats on the list go, everyone is going to be consensus on the top three. But after that, it’s going to be a whole lot of picking and choosing among extreme tools and extreme risk. Ethan Conrad’s offensive ceiling is enormous, but he hasn’t been healthy enough for us to really know whether he can handle advanced pitching. Myles Bailey has some of the best raw power in baseball, but he hasn’t debuted yet and is coming back from a serious ankle injury. Caden Sorrell is pretty much fantastic at all phases … except making consistent contact. So no idea if that develops or not. Speaking of Conrad’s injury issues, we now get a little more of the particulars for this past year, and it’s not great:“A torn left shoulder labrum ended his lone season at Wake Forest after 21 games, but the Cubs still drafted him 17th overall in 2025 and signed him for $3.56 million. Conrad’s 2026 pro debut was delayed until June 30 by a stress fracture in his back suffered in the weight room during spring training. He played 29 games with Low-A Myrtle Beach before reaching High-A South Bend, where the injury flared up and ended his season after two games.”
A stress fracture in the back from weight room activities combined with it flaring back up late in the year for a 21/22-year-old is definitely very concerning. At a minimum, it becomes something he’ll likely have to work extra hard to manage going forward, and you just hate to see that when a young player is in his prime development window (and still very inexperienced). Overall, it’s a pretty rough top-ten when compared to the Cubs’ typical list over the last 15 years. That’s not a surprise given all the graduations, trades, injuries, and underperformances. But this is clearly a system that is justifiably ranked among the bottom ten in the league, and clearly a system that desperately needs additional infusions of impact talent. That’s going to take big internal development, a dramatic improvement in impact coming from the IFA group, and maybe even some opportunistic trades.Hence then, the article about baseball america s new top ten chicago cubs prospect list is out was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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