Baseball America is out with their list of the Top 100 Prospects, and the Cubs have five players listed. Only the Rays, with seven, have more, and only the Indians have as many.
The highest ranking Cubs prospect was, not surprisingly, shortstop Starlin Castro at number 16.
The rest of the Cubs’ prospects were further down the list, but it was still good to see so many of them on it. Josh Vitters, a third baseman and the Cubs’ number 1 draft pick in 2007, was number 70. Outfielder Brett Jackson, the Cubs’ number 1 pick in 2009, was 74.
Rounding out the list were a couple of right-handed pitchers, Andrew Cashner, the Cubs’ top pick in 2008, at 95 and Jay Jackson at 98.
Obviously, you can never tell what will happen with young players. Ryan Theriot never made any of Baseball America’s annual lists of the Cubs’ top prospects, let alone the top 100 in the majors, and he has turned into a good major league shortstop. Other times, top-ranked players just don’t pan out (Corey Patterson, Felix Pie) or get injured and are never heard of again.
But it’s still fun to look at these lists, especially in the spring, when "hope springs eternal".
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Update (2/28/10 7:48 pm): Fixed the typo in Starlin Castro's first name.
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