Chicago Cubs Prospect Notes: Rojas, Wiggins, Jensen, Mena, Sanders, Mathis, More ...Middle East

The Chicago Cubs minor league season – an important one for the health of the system! – gets underway next week at Triple-A. I will necessarily be tracking the big league team more closely, but I am very excited for the prospect of prospecting this year …

When Jefferson Rojas was swapped out of a game this weekend following an injury delay, I really hoped it was sufficiently minor that he’d be right back in there soon. Sure enough, he was! Rojas started for the big league team at second base last night. He apparently felt something in his side (eep) when leaping for a ball on Saturday, but it must’ve felt 100% the next day. Speaking of Jefferson Rojas, Bryan was the first person to speak out a few years ago about the then-quite-young, recent IFA signing who was standing out far and above a number of similar-aged prospects out in Arizona. He was way, way ahead of the curve on Rojas’s potential, and it reminds me to always listen when Bryan speaks:

I always like to come back from the Mesa backfields with one sleeper for the next year.This year’s edition is Leonel Vivas, a 19 year old infielder from Mexico. Projectable frame, swing shows good early foundation for future power. Vivas hit .217/.416/.402 in DSL last year. pic.twitter.com/HDqeL35jT7

— Cubs Prospects – Bryan Smith (@cubprospects) March 12, 2026 Leonel Vivas would be much more of a sleeper pick than Rojas was back then (he wasn’t HYPED at the time, but Rojas had been a significant IFA signing), having played two years in the DSL without making the leap to the States. Still, Vivas only just turned 19, and it wouldn’t at all be surprising to see a guy in that age range make a substantial physical change that transforms his offensive game a bit. Of note, Vivas got into a Cactus League game with the Cubs, which, as we’ve discussed before, tends to be a tip of the cap for super young guys that the organization feels like have had a great offseason/spring. Jaxon Wiggins was interviewed at FanGraphs, and he got into a little detail about his arsenal, including a mention of the natural 20(!) inches of induced vertical he gets on his four-seamer. We know he also has a strong slider (it’s a bullet/gyro slider, of the type that comes in hot and is more about late drop than about lateral movement), and that he has been working to get both the curveball and changeup up to the same tier as the fastball and the slider. The changeup would be his third pitch right now, and what I’ve seen is a very good one when he’s got the feel. He can almost certainly succeed with just those three pitches, but if he gets a consistent feel for the curveball, that’s when you start to think about him being really special. Ryan Jensen signed a minor league deal with the Cubs in the second half of last year, returning to the organization that drafted him in the 1st round back in 2019. Turns out he stuck around with the Cubs, as he popped up in a Cactus League game, and he must be in on another/continued minor league deal. Jensen, 28, is a full-time reliever now, which was always the risk as he rose through the system, but he simply hasn’t been able to throw enough strikes to be productive at Triple-A, despite his nasty stuff. Love that the Cubs are getting more time to work with him. Arizona Phil has been doing his thing at TCR, tracking the action at the back fields, offering a whole lot to read. For example, that’s where we learn that late IFA signee Ronald Lazaro Mena is currently in Arizona, perhaps in advance of a professional debut in the ACL, despite the fact that he did not pitch in the DSL last year because he didn’t sign until August. Given his sizable off-cycle bonus, I take this all as a very encouraging sign. It’s also where we learn that Josiah Hartshorn continues to rake on the back fields, and man I cannot wait for his pro debut. Among Phil’s notes, Will Sanders is behind the other starting pitchers (he’s throwing live BP now), which would explain why the Triple-A righty hasn’t appeared in any Cactus League games like his fellow I-Cubs starters, and was not a non-roster invitee. Separately, Phil reports that the Cubs are not going to have their minor leaguers play in extended spring training games against other organizations as they have in years past, instead participating only in training work, plus intrasquad-type games before the start of the ACL in May. A very interesting change, and although I could speculate as to the reasons, I’d love to hear the Cubs’ thinking on it. Makes me think about the big scouting change the league has made, centralizing and standardizing a lot of the video and data that can be made available to organizations going forward – I couldn’t tell you what way it cuts, necessarily, but the timing is certainly notable. Maybe this is one small way an organization could try to protect a little scouting info going forward, since they can no longer do it technologically in the same way? A number of Baseball America writers put together a 2026 breakout prospect team, attempting to predict which non-top-100, non-2025-first-rounders could break out to become top-100 types by the end of the year. There were Cubs prospects named on two of the three lists, and if I told you they were both recent second-round picks, you’d probably say, “yeah, obviously Kane Kepley, but who else?” Well, I love that BA isn’t forgetting about Cole Mathis:

“Health has mainly held Mathis back. He has played just 29 games since the Cubs drafted him in the second round of the 2024 draft. Mathis was a two-way player in college and had Tommy John surgery after signing, before a right elbow sprain kept him out the majority of the 2025 season. He returned for the Carolina League playoffs and then went to the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .280/.439/.400 in 66 plate appearances. His underlying data in the AFL was very encouraging and showed an intriguing combination of contact skills and impact ability. Mathis enters 2026 coming off his first fully healthy offseason for several years. He has plus raw power and the approach and bat-to-ball skills to allow it to actualize, making him a potential breakout first base prospect.”

It’s been easy to forget that the Cubs drafted Mathis based on some internal projections that had him potentially becoming a monster bat. We haven’t had a chance to see it yet, but it’s really only been one pro season, and he’s just 22. This could be a huge breakout year for him if he can stay healthy, and if his work in the fall/over the offseason has him ready to face more advanced pitching. The realistic best-case-scenario would have him opening the season at High-A South Bend, and then hitting too much to stay there much past June. Some Pedro Ramirez hype, if you will:

The glove speaks for itself. ?Pedro Ramirez: Rawlings Gold Glove winner ?#SmokiesBaseball #GoldGlove pic.twitter.com/ZVJH57Wrqe

— Knoxville Smokies (@smokiesbaseball) March 16, 2026

Pedro Ramirez swatted his 2nd HR of the spring this afternoon. He’s now slashing .364/.429/.682 with elite plate discipline on display:11.6 Whiff%23.9 O-Swing%90.6 Z-Contact%3.6 K%14.3 BB% pic.twitter.com/L6gIAhrBVT

— Carson Wolf (@TheWrigleyWire) March 11, 2026

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