Today we\u2019re counting down the top five prospects in the Cubs minor league system. Because of the requests of some of you, I\u2019m going to do today\u2019s in reverse order. I\u2019ll try it this year. If I don\u2019t like it, I\u2019m going back to the other way next year.<\/p>\n
If you want to look back, here are the other four entries:<\/p>\n
Introduction and 21 to 25<\/a><\/p>\n Because I know some of you are going to ask, I had made up a preliminary list that I was working off of at the time of the Edward Cabrera trade. When the deal was made, I had Owen Caissie as the Cubs\u2019 number-three prospect. I was considering moving him up to two. It was a hard call. I can see the argument for making him the number-one prospect, but I don\u2019t think I would have done that. So he would have been two or three.<\/p>\n I had Cristian Hern\u00e1ndez at 20 when the trade went down, but I was really playing with the picks in the teens and I was strongly considering moving him up. Off the top of my head, I think putting Hern\u00e1ndez at 15, give or take a place or two, would be the right call.<\/p>\n So with that said, here are my top five Cubs prospects.<\/p>\n 5. Kevin Alc\u00e1ntara<\/a>. OF. B:R, T:R. 7\/22\/2002. 6\u20196\u201d, 188. Trade with Yankees (2021).<\/p>\n Alc\u00e1ntara has been around so long that it\u2019s easy to forget he\u2019s still only 23 years old. The scouting report on Alc\u00e1ntara is pretty much the same as it\u2019s been the past five years. He\u2019s a terrific athlete with great raw skills and a sky-high ceiling. He has plus raw power and plus speed. He\u2019s a very good defensive center fielder with a strong arm who could be a Gold Glove right fielder. The only thing holding him back is a difficulty making consistent contact at the plate, particularly against breaking pitches from right-handers.<\/p>\n After making his major league debut at the tail end of the 2024 season, there were big expectations for Alc\u00e1ntara in 2025. Instead, he battled a nagging sports hernia for much of the season and seemed to be stuck in a holding pattern. Alc\u00e1ntara went through hot streaks and cold streaks in 2025 and finished with a line of .266\/.349\/.470 with 17 home runs and ten home runs over 430 plate appearances. That\u2019s not bad, but we were all hoping for more.<\/p>\n There were some bright sides to that line. For one, Alc\u00e1ntara destroyed left-handed pitching in a way he had not done in previous years with a line of .320\/.396\/.588 versus southpaws. He also became slightly more selective at the plate and was able to draw a few more walks. And while it was a minuscule sample size, Alc\u00e1ntara didn\u2019t look as overmatched in the majors in his brief cup of coffee with the major league team at the end of the season like he did in 2024.<\/p>\n The downside is that he still swings at too many pitches out of the zone, especially curve balls from right-handed pitching. His strikeout rate of 29.8 percent in Iowa last year is scary high for a top prospect. He will probably always strike out a lot with that big body and big strike zone, but major league pitchers will be merciless on those weaknesses unless he can demonstrate that he can either lay off those pitchers or do damage against them. Alc\u00e1ntara\u2019s ground ball rates also increased last year and his fly ball rates decreased. Maybe that was because he was playing hurt. Maybe it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Despite the somewhat disappointing season, Alc\u00e1ntara did seem to make some progress in pitch recognition. Not enough, to be sure, but he was at least moving in the right direction.<\/p>\n Alc\u00e1ntara apparently got an extra option year, so that should give the Cubs the flexibility to let him build on the good parts of 2025 in Iowa, as well as work on eliminating the bad stuff. His defense and ability to hit left-handers would make him a good fourth outfielder right now, but the Cubs obviously have higher hopes for him than that. He has been around seemingly forever, so this is the year that Alc\u00e1ntara is going to have to prove to the Cubs that he can be their right fielder of the future.<\/p>\n Here are some highlights of Alc\u00e1ntara in Iowa for the first half of last season.<\/p>\n 4. Ethan Conrad.<\/a> OF. B:L, T:L. DOB: 07\/05\/2004. 6\u20193\u201d, 220. Drafted 1st round (2025) Wake Forest.<\/p>\n I have to keep myself from getting too excited about Ethan Conrad. The Cubs first-round draft pick last year has yet to make his professional debut after a season-ending shoulder injury during his junior year at Wake Forest. So all I have is the video that I can find online about him and those highlights get me very excited about Conrad.<\/p>\n Ethan Conrad went to Marist College for two years where he was an elite talent in a small school. He hit .389\/.467\/.704 his sophomore season before going .385\/.433\/.486 in the wooden bat Cape Cod League that following summer. Those numbers had the the power four conference of Wake Forest and the ACC calling. Conrad was just as impressive there\u2014.372\/.495\/.744 with seven home runs in 21 games before he suffered a season-ending injury to his left shoulder when he was diving for a ball. Unfortunately, the ACC regular season had just started when he suffered the injury, so those numbers were put up against non-conference competition that wasn\u2019t much better than what he faced at Marist. In fact, two of those games were against Marist. Conrad did put up those good numbers in the competitive Cape Cod League and we know the Cubs place a lot of emphasis on results in the Cape. So it\u2019s not like he has no experience with tough competition, but his resume is thin on that front.<\/p>\n Conrad is the kind of player that I fall in love with quite easily \u2014 the guy who is above-average but maybe not plus in every category. Maybe his arm rates out more as average, but the other four tools are in the 55 to 60 range on the 20-to-80 scale. Conrad has a simple left-handed stroke and features above-average contact skills. He only struck out 14 times in 97 plate appearances last season. He\u2019s also getting better at identifying pitches and laying off stuff out of the zone. Conrad walked 18 times, which is more than he struck out.<\/p>\n With good loft in his swing, Conrad projects out to be a 20-to-25 home run player. Some think that he still has room on his 6\u20193\u201d frame to add a little more weight, which might push up his power totals some more. However, that could come at the cost of his above-average speed, which is an asset both on the base paths and in center field, where he\u2019s an above-average defender. The Cubs are hopefully set in center field for quite a while, but Conrad projects out to be a very good defensive right fielder. His arm isn\u2019t his best tool, but it\u2019s at least average and good enough to play right.<\/p>\n From all accounts, Conrad is fully healthy now and you can see video on social media of him working out in Mesa. He should make his professional debut in Myrtle Beach this March or, less likely, South Bend. There will be a lot of eyes on him in this season. There is always concern that his shoulder injury will linger and affect his swing, although that\u2019s no more likely with Conrad than with any other hitter with a shoulder injury. His upside is a 25-25 above-average outfielder who will make a few All-Star Games. He has a very good chance to be the Cubs\u2019 number-one prospect at this time next year.<\/p>\n Here are some highlights of Conrad playing for Wake Forest before he got hurt.<\/p>\n 3. Jefferson Rojas<\/a>. SS. B:R, T:R. DOB: 4\/25\/2005. 5\u201911\u201d, 150. International Free Agent (2022) Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n On July 18, 20-year-old Jefferson Rojas was promoted to Double-A Knoxville. There he did something he\u2019d never really done before: he struggled. Over 39 game in the Southern League, Rojas hit .164\/.279\/.205 with no home runs with the Smokies.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not good, but I\u2019m not overly concerned for several reasons. Rojas was promoted after having the best half-season of his career in South Bend. Over 67 games in the Midwest League, Rojas hit .278\/.379\/.492 with a career-high 11 home runs. He became a more selective hitter and drew walks at a career-high percentage of 12.7 with no real increase in his strikeout rate at 15.7 percent. Rojas also started to drive the ball much harder with more pulled contact in the air.<\/p>\n Rojas also suffered a from poor luck in Knoxville, hitting just .211 on balls in play. Also, it was just 39 games at a new level. I won\u2019t argue that it\u2019s a good thing that he struggled here so that he learns to deal with adversity, but it did give Rojas a good sense of what he needs to work on over the winter.<\/p>\n Rojas was also just 20 years old in Knoxville, which is very young for Double-A. In fact, throughout Rojas\u2019 career he\u2019s been either the youngest or one of the youngest hitters in the league.<\/p>\n So overall, I\u2019m not worried. At least not yet. What makes Rojas an exciting prospect is his above-average contact skills and growing power profile. He pulled the ball in the air a lot more in South Bend, which is a very good sign. Rojas hit left- and right-handed pitching roughly equally in 2025. Rojas is a smart baserunner, which allows his average raw speed to play up. He stole 19 bases in 22 attempts between the two levels last year.<\/p>\n Defensively, Rojas has a strong arm and all the tools to stick at shortstop. He still makes some mistakes, which I chalk up more to inexperience than a lack of skills. Rojas could be a roughly average defensive shortstop, but he does have the arm to move to third base if necessary where he could be above average.<\/p>\n Rojas still doesn\u2019t turn 21 until April, so he\u2019s still quite young for his level. Obviously he has to demonstrate that the poor performance in Double-A last August was just a small speed bump on the road to Wrigley. If Rojas continues to improve like he did in South Bend last year, he\u2019ll be a top 100 prospect at this time next year and he will be knocking on the door for his major league debut in 2027.<\/p>\n Some highlights of Rojas in South Bend.<\/p>\n