5 Cubs Prospects Primed for Promotions This Year
By Zoe Grossman
When MLB Pipeline named seven Cubs prospects to its 2024 Top 100 Prospects list this past offseason, the excitement surrounding the Cubs' farm system was palpable.
Not only did the Cubs house the most Top 100 prospects in the league, but they also came away as the team with the second-most Prospect Points - Pipeline's measure of the "strength of star talent in an organization," calculated by giving 100 points for having the No. 1 prospect, 99 points for the No. 2 and so on. The Cubs fell only just behind the Orioles, even with the latter's boost from having MLB's No. 1 overall prospect in Jackson Holliday.
The Cubs' top prospect at the time was Pete Crow-Armstrong (No. 16 overall), who has since made it back on the big league roster and has gotten a handful of starts in center field while Mike Tauchman and Cody Bellinger are on the IL.
Cubs No. 1 prospect Cade Horton would be a shoo-in for this list if it weren't for a lat strain that's shut him down from pitching since May 29.
While we won't see most of these guys make it to The Show this year, they're making their way through the ranks at a rapid pace.
3B Matt Shaw - AA to AAA
Shaw (Cubs No. 2, MLB No. 29) was only drafted last year, but his college experience meant he made it to AA Tennessee quickly. He hit a red-hot .357 across three different teams in 2023, with the Smokies remaining his destination for 2024.
Shaw struggled at the beginning of the season but has since picked up his production, slashing .291/.358/.530 with a .888 OPS since May 26. He has certainly made a case for himself to make the jump to Iowa, and RotoBaller has called him "one of the best third base prospects in the sport."