PCA – Pick by Nick Grant/Tennessee Smokies
Thanksgiving week is usually a pretty slow week in terms of the news. Not this year. I published three articles about comebacks this week as Alexander Canario was our comeback player of the year. He was not the only prospect to bounce back this year as there were plenty of other comebacks. Then on Thanksgiving, I dropped a post about some guys who could bounce back in 2024. And then there was a lot of other news happening that kept us busy.
Prospect List Season In Full Gear
The big news of the week was two prospects lists came out.
Baseball Prospectus dropped their top list with no really big surprises except for Matt Shaw being at number 2. I also liked that we got some Marino Santy love and Zyhir Hope hype.
On Friday, Prospects Live dropped their top Cubs list for 2024. Greg Zumach was on top of things and covered it for you. For me, my biggest take away from that list is the love for Pedro Ramirez all the way at the 10 spot.
I must say that I am still not quite mentally ready to be evaluating prospect lists, but December is rolling around here in less than a week. I don’t know if I have a favorite prospect list. It’s hard to favor one list over another as every list is so different. To be honest, of three lists released so far, I like BP’s. Shocking, I know!!! I am now wondering if I should have myself tested.
Here are the cumulative rankings so far after three lists.
| NSB | MLB | BA | PL | MSN | BP | Athletic | F | ESPN | Totals | |
| PCA | 10 | 10 | 10 | 30 | ||||||
| Horton | 9 | 9 | 8 | 26 | ||||||
| Alcantara | 4 | 7 | 6 | 17 | ||||||
| Shaw | 8 | 8 | 9 | 25 | ||||||
| Caissie | 7 | 6 | 7 | 20 | ||||||
| Wicks | 5 | 5 | 3 | 13 | ||||||
| Brown | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | ||||||
| Ballesteros | 6 | 4 | 5 | 15 | ||||||
| Rojas | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | ||||||
| Ferris | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Canario | 0 | |||||||||
| Triantos | 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| Pedro Ramirez | 1 | 1 |
Rookie of the Year Candidates
This was a fun thing to think about as MLB Pipeline released an article with every team’s possible Rookie of the Year Candidate. For the Cubs, they selected PCA.
Crow-Armstrong likely will get some more Triple-A seasoning after going 0-for-14 in a September callup, but he’s capable of winning a Gold Glove in center field as a rookie if the Cubs play him enough. Acquired from the Mets in a 2021 trade for Javier Báez and Trevor Williams, he also displayed his offensive upside by slashing .283/.365/.511 with 20 homers and 37 steals in 107 games between Double-A and Triple-A.
My take….Cade Horton might be another option here. Why? His stuff is pro ready and he would have a huge impact near the top of the rotation. Small problem…he might not be up until midseason as he still needs some more experience. Then again, the Cubs may think the stuff is ready before we do. You never know about these things.
In addition, Jordan Wicks could be in this discussion and maybe Canario or Owen Caissie. A lot of guys are close to being ready!
Pipeline also dropped another article about a prospect to be thankful for in each system. You can guess who the Cubs pick was.
Other News
Ethan Roberts, Codi Heuer, and Brandon Hughes all elected free agency. I am expecting all three to re-sign after the Rule 5 Draft, albeit to minor league deals. That is what I am hoping for. Although, if Heuer does re-sign, he won’t be ready until 2025.
Mailbag Question of the Week
Paul, a long time blog reader, asked this question via email:
Who is your biggest sleeper/breakout candidate for 2024?
To be brief, I am all-in on Cristian Olivo. After a 3-for-34 start last June in Mesa, the 2021 17th round pick out of high school in Puerto Rico turned it on in July and August hitting .363 with a 1.042 OPS in July and .375 with a .961 OPS in August. That’ll do. Originally a shortstop, Olivo moved to the outfield and should be at Myrtle Beach next spring. I will be doing a full blown post on Olivo as part of my offseason series. I am not sure when that will be, but it will be soon.
Coming Up on North Side Bound
Starting tomorrow, and then every Monday thereafter for nine more weeks, I will be rolling out my position breakdown series that I’ve been doing since 2015. Left handed relievers will be up first and then second baseman will be dropping next week.
In addition, I have also decided what I’m going to do for my off-season prospects profile series. Over the course of 10 weeks, I will check out several players from the lower parts of the system who could possibly breakout in 2024.. Most of those players will be at Myrtle Beach and South Bend next summer. We might even have a couple from the rookie leagues as well.
The mail bag offseason post will continue, but it looks like I’ll be answering those on Sundays in “The Weekly.” As for the affiliate sneak peaks, I have not decided if I’m going to do them every week or every other week this winter. Technically, I could compartmentalize each affiliate by the outfield, infield, starting rotation, and the bullpen. That’s pretty close to 16-20 weeks worth of previews. Now that I’ve seen it in black-and-white, I’m a little bit more OK with it being every week. The first step will be Myrtle Beach’s outfield.
Tweet of the Week
Go to North Side Bound’s YouTube page, click the subscribe button. Do it for Greg! It will make him happy!
Jam of the Week
It appears I am stuck in the 80s this fall. Here is one of my favorite live bands in Squeeze.
