After the release of their top-30 Chicago Cubs prospects going into the 2025 season (discussed last week here), Baseball America went a little deeper on each org, adding another 10 prospects to know in the Cubs’ system.
I loved this read in large part because BA threw out a number of pitchers who aren’t discussed all that often, and whom the Cubs could really use having a breakout this year to allay a lot of the concerns about pitching depth in the system. Lefty Drew Gray is an obligatory mention on a list like this, and we just have to hope that the corner he seemed to turn late last year on the control side carries over into 2025. If it does, he’s instantly a top-15 prospect in this system, and probably arrives at Double-A in the first half.
Gray is a well-known name, relatively speaking, but the other pitchers listed by BA are much less so: righties Daniel Avitia, JP Wheat, Frankie Scalzo Jr., and Kenyi Perez.
Avitia has yet to make his professional debut after being drafted by the Cubs in the 12th round last year … and after being drafted by the Cubs a couple years earlier, too. They have wanted this guy in the system for a while now, and it’ll be fascinating to see if we can tell why right away in 2025.
Wheat, the Cubs’ 16th rounder in 2022, was a raw but powerful high school arm who had Tommy John surgery just before the draft. It was a long road back, and he pitched only a little in 2024, showing big velo and stuff, but also a 28.8% walk rate. Here’s hoping that was the rehab and the layoff. Significant potential for Wheat, but a long way to go.
Scalzo, 25, has been a steady climber in the Cubs’ system as a relief prospect, pretty consistently getting results even if not wowing with the peripherals. He is now firmly among the Triple-A reliever depth, so we could see him at any time.
Perez, 23, is a fun one, because he’s been about as extreme as it gets when it comes to huge strikeout rates and huge walk rates. Last season, 64%(!) of his plate appearances ended in a walk or a strikeout. The walks were nearly half that figure, so he did not find much success. But as BA notes, there’s lots of upside to dream on: “Despite terrible results in 2024, Perez flashes some of the biggest stuff in the Cubs system. He sits 94-95 mph with heavy cut mixing a mid-80s slider and a changeup. If Perez can clean up his control he has closer-level stuff.”
These guys are not necessarily the most likely pitchers to break out, or even necessarily the guys with the greatest upside/impact if they were to break out. But I think, instead, they really encapsulate the types of pitching prospects the Cubs need to see break out in 2025 if they’re going to resume the steady flow of arms up through the system.
See the full list and discussion here at BA.
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