New Cubs Prospect Rankings Feature Pitching, Pitching And More Pitching

Gleyber Torres is recognized as one of the top prospects in baseball right now, but it's crazy to think how stacked the Chicago Cubs were in 2015, when the shortstop couldn't even crack the top-five in the Cubs system. Three years have passed and the six prospects that were ranked ahead of Torres in the Cubs farm system by MLB Pipeline are World Series champions, most being position players. The Cubs no longer have the best minor leaguers in baseball, but they have made a commitment to developing pitching and you can see that effort in MLB Pipeline's new top-30 Cubs prospects list.  As a matter of fact, 21 pitchers appear in their top-30 rankings, the most of any other team. Right-hander Adbert Alzolay didn't make the list last year, but now he's No. 1 in the Cubs system. Here's the top-10, which includes three of the first four being pitchers.

1. Adbert Alzolay | RHP
2. Aramis Ademan | SS
3. Oscar De La Cruz | RHP
4. Jose Albertos | RHP
5. Alex Lange | RHP
6. Brendon Little | LHP
7. Thomas Hatch | RHP
8. Victor Caratini | C/1B
9. D.J. Wilson | OF
10. Nelson Velazquez | OF

Brendon Little and Alex Lange were first-round picks of last year's MLB draft. Back to Alzolay. He had a breakout 2017 in the minors and Theo Epstein had high praise for the 22-year-old. Here's what Epstein said about Alzolay and his potential back in October.

Adbert Alzolay, I think is a really interesting high ceiling starting pitcher, who if he reaches his potential will someday be one of the five and closer to the 1 than the 5. He’s pitching in the Fall League right now and he’s an exciting young kid with high character and electric stuff who’s got a great starter kit and will pitch at the upper levels of the farm system next year. He finished the year at Double-A. He’s gonna probably start there, but see some time in Triple-A. Before it’s all said and done who knows you know, but I think factoring him into the sort of broad picture of our major-league depth makes sense for us. (Theo Epstein)

The righty made 22 starts, splitting time at Single-A and Double-A last year, recording a 2.99 ERA and 1.10 WHIP 114.1 innings, striking out 108 hitters. Fans could see Alzolay make his MLB debut this year with the Cubs late in the season. You can see the entire breakdown of the top-30 by Jim Callis here. The analyst also included a list of the players with the best tools in the Cubs organization.

Best tools Players are graded on a 20-80 scouting scale for future tools -- 20-30 is well below average, 40 is below average, 50 is average, 60 is above average and 70-80 is well above average. Players in parentheses also have the same grade. Hit: 55 -- Victor Caratini (Aramis Ademan, Mark Zagunis) Power: 55 -- Nelson Velazquez Run: 65 -- D.J. Wilson Arm: 55 -- Miguel Amaya (Aramis Ademan, Wladimir Galindo, Zack Short, Nelson Velazquez) Defense: 60 -- Miguel Amaya Fastball: 75 -- Dillon Maples Curveball: 65 -- Alex Lange Slider: 65 -- Dillon Maples Changeup: 65 -- Jose Albertos Control: 55 -- Michael Rucker (Adbert Alzolay, Oscar de la Cruz, Alec Mills, Keegan Thompson, Jen-Ho Tseng, Erich Uelmen)

Not a surprise to see Dillon Maples ranked so high because he's always had the stuff. Maples made his MLB debut in 2017, appearing in six games for the Cubs. He struck out 11 batters in 5.1 innings, but also walked six. He's in camp this spring training, where hopefully he can improve his control because he has an elite fastball and a devastating slider. If he can just put it all together he may even end up being a candidate to be the future Cubs closer. Check out the rest of the top-30 Cubs prospects here. One last thing, just check out the #1 ranked prospects for the Cubs since 2011. Again, Theo Epstein, we are not worthy.

Javier Baez is the only player on that list that has gone on to succeed that wasn't a product of the Epstein era. Nice little run there, starting with Anthony Rizzo.