Cubs Top 25 prospects: Pre-Trade Deadline update

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Knoxville Smokies infielder Jefferson Rojas (2) runs to third base during a minor league baseball game between the Knoxville Smokies and Biloxi Shuckers at Covenant Health Park in Knoxville, Tenn., on July 7, 2026. | Angelina Alcantar/ News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Trade Deadline is just over a week away and the Cubs are expected to be aggressive buyers. So now is a good time to see what prospects the Cubs have that might interest other teams.

The Cubs farm system has had a good first half of the season. Both Double-A Knoxville and High-A South Bend won their first-half division titles. Several prospects, most notably Josiah Hartshorn and Owen Ayers, took huge steps forward and have established themselves among the Top 100 prospects in the game. I also think the Cubs had a good draft, although time will tell on that. But four recent draft picks made my new Top 25.

Several players have graduated off of my pre-season list. Pre-season top prospect Moisés Ballesteros may be back in the minors, but he exceeded the 120 plate appearances in the majors before going back down. Neither Kevin Alcántara nor Pedro Ramírez have 120 plate appearances yet, but both do have the 45 days in the majors, which is another marker of the end of prospect status. But it should be noted that while Mo Baller, the Jaguar and Ramírez (someone get Pedro a nickname!) are no longer considered prospects, they are the kinds of players with potential and six years of team control that teams are looking for when trading with the Cubs.

Here is where I see the Cubs’ Top 25 prospects at the moment. I think this list is a lot deeper than the one that I made this past winter. Still, there isn’t a lot of difference between someone ranked 19 and 25 nor between someone ranked in the 20s and a lot of people I didn’t rank. So if you’re asking “Why isn’t [so-and-so] here?,” the answer is almost certainly “I could have put him on instead of [player name].”

A quick reminder that this year’s draft picks—Cade Townsend, Brandon Sorrell, Myles Bailey and Carson Jasa—cannot be traded at the Deadline.

As always, I don’t rank players still in the Dominican Summer League. However, those players will also be available for trades. But major league teams only rarely want players that young and that far away from the majors in Deadline deals.

BCB Cubs top 25 prospects: Mid-season update​

1. Josiah Hartshorn 1B/OF
2. Jefferson Rojas INF
3. Owen Ayers C
4. Kane Kepley OF
5. Cade Townsend RHP
6. Jaxon Wiggins RHP
7. Ethan Conrad OF
8. Kaleb Wing RHP
9. Caden Sorrell OF
10. James Triantos 2B/OF
11. Jonathon Long 1B/LF
12. Myles Bailey 1B
13. Ty Southisene SS
14. Brooks Caple RHP
15. Dominick Reid RHP
16. Juan Cabada 2B
17. Jostin Florentino RHP
18. Mason McGwire RHP
19. Brett Bateman OF
20. Will Sanders RHP
21. Nazier Mulé RHP
22. Jose Escobar LF/2B
23. Carson Jasa RHP
24. Grant Kipp RHP
25. Pierce Coppola LHP

Josiah Hartshorn has been struggling a bit lately, but he still shows an advanced approach at the plate and excellent power. There’s some risk here from the hit tool, maybe more than some of us would like to admit, but he’s probably one of the top 40 prospects in baseball right now and probably off-limits for all likely trades.

Jefferson Rojas, still just 21, is having an excellent season in Double-A after struggling in his first exposure there last year. With the Cubs major league infield set for the near future, he’s a strong candidate to get dealt.

Owen Ayers built off that strong Arizona Fall League performance and has played his way all the way up to Triple-A. He’s still a bat-over-glove catcher, but his defense is getting better and his arm has always been strong. Teams will ask about him and while I don’t think he’s off-limits, the Cubs will be loathe to deal him for anything short of a haul.

Kane Kepley is an on-base machine who steals a ton of bases. He’s also a very good defensive center fielder. With Pete Crow-Armstrong ensconced in center for the foreseeable future, Kepley has to be considered a trade candidate for the right price.

The injuries to Jaxon Wiggins have me moving him just behind first-round draft pick Cade Townsend. With the Townsend pick, Wiggins becomes more available. I’m not sure, however, that Wiggins has time enough to re-establish his value before next Monday for the Cubs to get enough back to deal him.

Ethan Conrad has only just started playing after being last year’s first-round pick. So far, he hasn’t looked all that impressive in Low-A Myrtle Beach, but he’s also missed more than a year of playing time. So it may just be rust.

James Triantos is making his major-league debut today. He’s re-established some value after a strong season in Iowa. But while Triantos could be a major league starter, he lacks the power to be an impact player and his major league role and skill set is duplicated by Matt Shaw and Pedro Ramírez, whom I’d argue do it better.

Ty Southisene is currently injured, but his value has gone up this year as he’s hit .302 with a .422 OBP. He’s also proven that he can at minimum play an adequate shortstop, which gives him a lot more utility infielder value. He has yet to hit his first professional home run, which lowers his value

Juan Cabada makes my list for the first time after playing in the Arizona Complex League. He showed a solid bat as an 18-year-old before he got injured at the end of May. He has not returned to the field since then.

I still think Mason McGwire is a reliever at the major league level, but after missing all of 2025, he looks like a completely different pitcher this year with better stuff and much-improved command. There’s also always the chance I’m wrong and McGwire ends up as a starter. I can imagine the A’s or the Cardinals asking for McGwire in any potential trade.

I’m still quite suspicious of Brett Bateman as his .306 batting average in Iowa is driven by a very high batting average on balls in play. He also has almost no power. But Bateman also makes a lot of contact, walks about as much as he strikes out, steals a lot of bases and plays good defense in center field. He’s more of a fourth outfielder than a starter, but he’s also in Triple-A and close to major-league ready.

Nazier Mulé touches 100 miles per hour and has greatly improved his control this year. He still walks too many batters, but he’s moving in the right direction. It should be noted that Mulé didn’t devote himself full-time to pitching until the Cubs drafted him out of high school in 2022.

Jose Escobar is having a breakout season in South Bend, in large part because he’s dropped his strikeout rate from 20.8 percent to 13 percent. The fact that he’s looking more “left fielder” than “second baseman” hurts his value, but a team that thinks he can still play second base might value him higher.

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