Picture of Pete Crow-Armstrong by Todd Johnson

The top echelon of Cubs prospects are starting to reach national consensus. Prospects Live names three Cubs prospects to their Top 100. In a few short years Prospects Live (PL) has transformed into one of the most reputable prospect and draft publications in the game. Pete Crow-Armstrong (32), Brennen Davis (48), and Kevin Alcántara (55) land on PL’s midseason ranking. Make sure to read their whole article which is full of nuggets about all the top prospects in baseball.

Pete Crow-Armstrong (32nd) receives a heap of praise from PL as they call him “A true five tool player”. PCA finished his tenure as a Myrtle Beach Pelican with an astounding .354/.453/.557 line (177 wRC+). Crow-Armstrong had an adjustment period with Hi-A South Bend, but he’s already brought his offensive output above league average. PCA finished among the leaders in league adjusted stats in the North Side Bound hitting statistics. Seeing Crow-Armstrong ranked again as a Top 50 prospect strengthens the view that this is an upper echelon prospect. There appears to be a growing consensus ranking PCA first among Cubs prospects.

Rankings don’t quite know what to do with Brennen Davis (48th). How publications factor in the injury and whether the poor performance this season was likely due to that injury varies across the industry. Prospects Live acknowledges both of those factors in ranking him, but it’s still hard to discount in AAA. Brennen remained the unanimous top Cubs prospect in the North Side Bound Rankings.

Kevin Alcántara (55th) represents the type of high-upside play fans scream for and he’s already showing off what his profile could be in just a few years. While the upside is tantalizing it’s also important to remember that each prospect has a specific development plan in place. Prospects Live notes an area of concern for Alcántara. According to PL, “Pitch recognition is still a work-in-progress, and all of those issues have led to a high strikeout rate as he’s moved up the ladder. His hit tool may not project better than below-average at peak maturity.” Despite those concerns, Alcántara ranking just outside the Top 50 represents outstanding progress for a (recently turned) 20-year-old in Low-A. The outfielder currently sports a .260/.351/.443 slash line with 11.5% BB-rate and a 25.8% K-rate for Myrtle Beach.

Prospects Live utilizes “live looks”, and industry conversations combined with minor league data (such as batted-ball metrics) to make their assessments. It’s a good sign that not only are the Cubs featured relatively prominently, but also high in these rankings.

Be sure to check out our rankings while you are here to compare which prospects we have in our top 10.