The Cubs have climbed back up the prospect board, but Baseball America’s latest update also put a spotlight on the same problem that keeps hanging over the system: there still isn’t enough pitching.
Chicago entered 2026 with plenty of questions after the graduations of Matt Shaw and Cade Horton, plus the trade of Owen Caissie. That drop-off showed up in the preseason rankings, where Baseball America had the Cubs at No.
- Since then, a few players have taken real steps forward.
Josiah Hartshorn, Kane Kepley and Owen Ayers all helped push the system upward, and Baseball America now has Chicago at No. 16.
That rise says plenty about the state of the farm. The Cubs are loaded with position-player talent, and that gives them something useful as the trade deadline approaches: a group of bats they should feel fine moving if the right deal comes along.
But the pitching side of the ledger is still thin, and Baseball America didn’t miss it. The Cubs don’t have many pitching prospects who project as starters, and their best one, Jaxon Wiggins, has dealt with injury concerns since being drafted. Not surprisingly, Baseball America identified starting pitching as the weakness in the system.
The cleanest fix is obvious enough: the Cubs need to lean into pitching in the 2026 MLB draft. And by the sound of it, they know that. The issue is that the organization has long preferred the safer bet of college bats, even though that route doesn’t solve the larger problem if the pipeline keeps running dry.
The bigger concern is volume. As Lance Brozdowski pointed out on June 30, 2026, the Cubs haven’t been making many swings at pitching in the draft. His breakdown of bonus money spent since the 2023 draft painted a pretty blunt picture of where Chicago stands compared with other clubs.
That has to change. Under Jed Hoyer, the front office has not exactly shown a willingness to chase velocity with its draft spending, even though velocity is a major marker of successful pitching staffs. And if the Cubs are going to keep betting on arms, they can’t just keep shopping for bargains.
They also can’t keep treating injury history as a dealbreaker. The Cubs have already taken that kind of shot with Wiggins and Cade Horton, which tells you the organization is open to upside plays on the mound. The problem is that those bets have not yet made the pitching depth look any sturdier.
For now, the Cubs’ farm system is moving in the right direction again. If this weekend’s draft goes well, Baseball America’s top-16 ranking might not be the ceiling for long.
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