DESTINATION WRIGLEY

WHO WILL BE NEXT TO MAKE THE JUMP FROM THE BEND TO THE BIGS?

By Josh Sperber

Jason Vosler, Zack Short, Justin Steele, and Brailyn Marquez. These are the four most recent South Bend Cubs that made their MLB debuts. It’s a goal that any player you will see this season is striving to achieve, and South Bend is where it starts. Some of the top players in the game today, like Gleyber Torres, played their first full season of professional baseball at Four Winds Field. Now there is a new wave of young talent ready to prove they belong.

The Cubs farm system isn’t the most admired in the majors, but they are certainly making improvements. Over the past 2 years they have jumped seven spots in MLB Pipeline’s rankings and landed three prospects in this year’s top 100. They are in the middle of the pack in terms of young talent, ranking 18th in 21-and-under minor league talent. And it is that contingent of younger talent that is leading the Cubs minor league system in its rise back to the prominence. You may remember a Championship victory last season right here in South Bend, where over 150 players who went on to the Major Leagues began their journeys.

Steele became one of the first players to make his MLB debut in the 2021 season back in April. He struck out four batters in three and a third innings during his three game stint in Chicago. Steele last played in South Bend in 2016, but there are plenty of Cubs prospects who played here as recently as the 2019 championship season who may be ready to make that jump. This begs the question that is on the mind of every person involved in Minor League Baseball, as a fan or employee: who’s next? Here are four former South Bend Cubs who have a shot at becoming a Chicago Cub this year.

Miguel Amaya, C (Cubs #3 Prospect, MLB Top 100: #81)

Miguel Amaya has been a known entity in the Cubs system and throughout the minor leagues since he came in as a highly touted 16-year-old. Though the power-hitting catcher turned 22 less than two months before Opening Day, the 2018 Midwest League Midseason All-Star selection has played in the Futures Game and was named a Cubs Organizational All-Star in each of the two years he has played full-season minor league ball.

Of those two seasons, Amaya played his best in South Bend, exhibiting power at the plate and skill in the field. He played most of his innings behind the plate, but he showed strong athleticism in the field in nine starts at first base. Amaya hit .256 with 12 home runs and 52 RBIs in South Bend and threw out 34 percent of potential base stealers. He left South bend with three different All-Star selections, as he was named a Midseason All-Star in conjunction with his organizational and futures game nods.

At every level of the minor leagues, Amaya was praised for his maturity and advanced skill set for a young player. He has shown the ability to survive the daily wear and tear that is standard among catchers at all levels, consistently starting and putting up solid numbers behind the plate. He is still improving and steadily becoming more polished in all facets of the game, but Amaya has shown that he has all the tools to become a solid catcher at the major league level one day.

Kohl Franklin, RHP (Cubs #6 Prospect):

Listed as the Cubs’ top pitching prospect after Brailyn Marquez, the 21-year-old Kohl Franklin showed great improvement after a challenging year of rookie ball in 2018. Franklin went right from high school to the pro’s despite recovering from a broken foot that caused him to miss most of his senior season. After extended spring training, he rebounded in a big way, striking out 49 batters in 10 starts for short season/Single-A Eugene and allowing just one earned run per start in the process. Franklin’s strong stint with the Emeralds earned him a promotion to South Bend, where he allowed one earned run and struck out three in three innings before leaving with an injury.

While Franklin is still a raw talent, he has shown signs of serious promise, increasing the velocity on his fastball in every season as a pro, getting it as high as 97 miles per hour. He is developing his support pitches as well, adding a knuckle-curve to his off-speed arsenal last season to go along with a mid-80s mph changeup that is graded as the best in the Cubs system by Baseball America. The changeup sinks well to fool hitters and some scouts say it is his best pitch, even better than his rapidly improving fastball.

Franklin was not added to the alternate site roster in 2020, but he spent the season working on his conditioning, his athleticism, and his pitching arsenal. He is still adding muscle and filling out his 6’4 frame, and his long, athletic body is exactly what scouts look for in a major league pitcher. Adding muscle means he could add even more velocity to his fastball, which has already improved by an average of five miles per hour since the Cubs drafted him in 2018. Opponents have hit under .200 against him in his two minor league seasons, during which Franklin has averaged over one strikeout per inning. An aggressive pitcher who attacks hitters with pitches in the strike zone, Franklin is quickly improving his command while still managing a strikeout to walk ratio of 2:1. Franklin has drastically improved in each year he’s spent in the minors and is expected to make an even bigger jump in 2021.

Brennen Davis, CF (Cubs #2 Prospect, MLB Top 100: #53)

The youth movement continues with 2018 second-round pick Brennen Davis, who was instrumental in last season’s championship run. Another 20-year-old in the Cubs’ big three of young prospects, Davis made great strides with his bat, bashing eight home runs in 50 games with South Bend after failing to homer in the Arizona League. Despite missing some time due to injury, Davis set career highs across the board in his first full season of professional baseball, with those eight home runs, 30 RBIs, nine doubles, and .907 OPS. A rock-solid all-around season earned Davis the Cubs’ Minor League Player of the Year for his efforts.

Davis was a later addition to the South Bend roster last season, beginning 2019 in extended spring training and not making it to South Bend until the end of May. But Davis made an impact from the get-go, recording a hit in each of his first six games at Four Winds Field and quickly becoming a regular for Buddy Bailey’s squad. Almost half of his extra base hits left the ballpark, and he finished the season with an impressive slash line of .305/.381/.525. He added four stolen bases on five attempts, showing flashes of the speed and athleticism that made him a talented basketball player in high school.

Cubs scouts and coaches were impressed by Davis’ athleticism coming out of high school but thought he would take longer to put it all together on the baseball field. He has a lot of raw talent and it's really starting to show. An athletic, 6’4 outfielder, Brennen Davis clearly has a lot more baseball ahead of him in his career. He excelled at the alternate site in 2020 and jumped 25 spots in the MLB’s Top 100 prospect rankings over the past year. If his 2021 looks anything like his time in South Bend (hopefully excluding the injuries), there’s no telling how high Davis can climb.

Riley Thompson, RHP (Cubs #17 Prospect)

Riley Thompson was a staple of South Bend’s starting rotation last season, earning an 8-6 record in 21 starts with an era of 3.06 in his first full season as a pro. He was crucial down the stretch of South Bend’s 2019 Championship run, striking out 13 in two playoff starts, including a dominant showing in game three of the Championship series in which he struck out 10 LumberKings in five innings to earn the decisive victory.

Thompson has been a flamethrower since high school, with his heater topping out at 96 miles per hour before he went down with an elbow injury. Scouts saw so much promise in Thompson’s fastball and overall ability as a starter that he was selected by the Reds in the 37th round of the 2015 MLB draft shortly after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

Thompson was highly regarded as having first round stuff, and likely would have been a higher pick if he didn’t need the surgery. Once he recuperated, Thompson struck out 23 batters in 15.2 innings during his first active season at Louisville and was drafted by the Yankees in the 17th round of the 2017 draft. Continued on page 36...

While Thompson has brought his fastball back up to its pre-surgery effectiveness, he brings a changeup and a dipping curveball to the table as well. His fastball averages between 92 and 95 miles an hour and has hit as high as 97 on the gun, while his curve is graded just as highly with speed in the mid-80s and one of the best spin rates in the Cubs minor league system.

Thompson’s control is a focal point of his development, as he likes to spin his breaking stuff out of the zone to fool hitters. A high heater and a nasty dip on his curveball make for a nice one-two punch for this strikeout pitcher. His split-finger grip on the changeup helps with the downward movement that makes opposing hitters chase. This deep arsenal helps Thompson strikeout more than double the number of batters he walks, walking 31 and striking out 87 with South Bend in 2019.

An issue with Thompson is his health, as Tommy John is always difficult to fully recover from, and Riley also had some shoulder issues during his time at Louisville. His fastball is back at its pre-surgery speed and a full season as South Bend’s number two starter, the ace of the staff once Brailyn Marquez was promoted to Myrtle Beach, is a sign that he’s trending in the right direction.

Thompson still needs to polish up his pitches and sure up his command of his breaking stuff, but the Cubs believe he could be a rotation starter or possibly a closer. He certainly showed off his clutch gene last season, throwing five innings of no-hit ball to help clinch the 2019 Midwest League Championship. With a season away to recuperate during the pandemic, expect Thompson to come back in a big way in 2021.

The Cubs system is young, continually improving, and has a balanced group of prospects with a lot of upside. But it’s hard to tell where the direction of a prospect or a team’s system is going until you see them play.

Every year since becoming a Cubs affiliate, there has been a prospect that played in South Bend that has made the jump to the big leagues. Guys like Ian Happ and David Bote are now everyday players for the Cubs, and the next man up may be on the field right now. Whoever that star may be, whether it’s one of these four or someone who will make their professional debut this season, the road to Wrigley Field starts right here in South Bend.