Feature photo of Ethan Roberts and Manny Rodriguez by Rich Biesterfeld

I’m going with a real abbreviated version of the Mid-Week Buzz this week. Typically, I go into the typical four categories to catch you up on what’s been happening on social media and media proper.

This week, however, there’s already a ton going on here at NSB. We have just begun our Preseason Extravaganza, we’ve been taking a peek at plenty of prospect action in Major League Spring Training games, and we are less than two weeks out from MiLB Opening Day!

So here’s a few bullets to make sure you know what’s going on out there in prospectdom.

• As I mentioned, our Preseason Extravaganza is here! We’re kicking off with some stat leader predictions across the minors. We lead off at the plate today, with predictions from most home runs, to highest batting average and best wRC+.

• We’ll be back with predictions for starting pitchers and relievers in the next couple days, followed by a preseason All-Star team later in the week!

• The last two publications have released their Cubs prospect lists, with MLB Pipeline dropping last night and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel rolling his list out this morning.

• We’ve seen prospects aplenty over the last few spring training games, with Brennen Davis homering before getting struck in the knee with a heater (UPDATE: he’s healthy and in the starting lineup today), Owen Caissie peppering the right center gap, and Ethan Roberts shutting things down out of the pen. Both Davis and Roberts figure to play roles in Chicago this year, but might we see Caissie rise as high as Double-A this season?

• Other prospect videos of note: Alfonso Rivas continues to get on base and now he’s hitting taters and Jared Young is keeping pace with his 1B/LF peer. Following the progression of those two players — guys that play extremely similar roles — will be veryyyyy interesting this year.

• Oh, and did I mentioned we are gearing up for opening day? Here’s a bunch of moonshots!