PCA – Pic by Dylan Heuer/Iowa Cubs

Sometimes, prospect lists do not go like you think they would. Today is one of those times as Keith Law of The Athletic released his top 100 prospects list for minor league baseball.

Today’s list was a bit confounding for who was left off as well as who was placed where. Five Cubs made the list. Pete Crow Armstrong was first at number 18 followed by Matt Shaw at 26, Kevin Alcantara at 28, Cade Horton at 49 and Michael Busch at 68. 

I have two concerns about the list. Noticeably absent was none other than Mr. Owen Caissie. I’m not sure how someone with Owen’s skill set and hitting acumen doesn’t make the list when he’s top 50 clearly in other evaluations.

And I’m not sure quite how Cade Horton slid all the way to number 49 which is an outlier compared to other prospect lists. One of the top right-handed pitchers in the minors, Horton should be all the way up in the top 30.

Other names who did not make the list include James Triantos, Jordan Wicks, and possibly Moises Ballesteros. Two of those three might be in consideration for Law’s midseason list as Michael Busch, Cade Horton, and PCA could all probably be regulars in Chicago by that time.

As usual, a  prospect list is only good for a day or two. In this case, I’m not so sure we can highly recommend it unless you are an Alcantara or Matt Shaw fan. I love the Shaw ranking and not so sure about Alcantara being that high, although I think highly of Kevin’s potential.

All this list has done has been to make me yearn for Law’s top Cubs list which could come out any day. That should be even more interesting to me. Because all this top 100  list did was to whett my appetite for the top Cubs list.

Another part of me really wants to see Law’s midseason list to see which Cubs pop on there because most of Law’s current Cubs picks will be in Chicago by then and will probably lose their prospect status. It could only be Alcantara still in the system by late summer.