The Cubs have been playing like a team that’s found its footing again, and now there’s another reason for the fan base to lean in. While Chicago’s recent surge has been built on offense - including a 15-4 run and a 23-run outburst against the San Diego Padres that tied a franchise record with eight homers in a game - the organization’s most intriguing buzz right now may be coming from the minors.
That buzz belongs to Josiah Hartshorn.
Baseball America’s latest Top 100 update pushed Hartshorn all the way up to No. 29, a huge jump for the 6th round pick in the 2025 MLB Draft. It’s the kind of rise that turns a prospect from interesting to impossible to ignore, and Hartshorn has backed it up with production at every stop so far.
He opened the season in Single-A and immediately made noise, posting an .884 OPS over his first 39 games. During that stretch, he drew 34 walks against 27 strikeouts and drove in 25 runs, enough to force a quick move to High-A South Bend.
The bat kept humming there. In 32 games with South Bend, the switch-hitting outfielder has put up a .953 OPS, added nine home runs, and kept finding ways to square up the ball. His walk-to-strikeout ratio hasn’t stayed quite as sharp, but the contact has remained steady and the power has taken another step.
That blend is what’s pushing his stock so fast. Hartshorn isn’t just selling out for power, and he isn’t living off contact alone.
He’s showing a rare balance at the plate, and that’s what has evaluators buzzing. Defense isn’t the selling point here, but it doesn’t need to be when the swing looks this clean.
The numbers behind the surge are eye-opening, too. Hartshorn is a switch-hitting 19-year-old who is running a contact rate of 80%, chase rate of 19% and an EV90 of 105 MPH. That’s the kind of profile that makes people sit up and pay attention, especially when the home runs start stacking up.
He’s now homered five times in his last 10 games, and the climb has been fast enough that he’s already landed on the 2026 Futures Game roster for All-Star Weekend. There are still plenty of rungs left on the ladder before anyone starts talking about him at the big league level, but right now, Hartshorn looks like the Cubs’ most electric prospect.
And the wildest part? He’s still only 19.
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Eduarniel Nez cleared waivers and remains in the organization, which at least keeps one arm available for the Cubs to sort through at a lower level. Roas situation is the one that stings more for Chicago, because he is no longer in the system and now leaves behind another open question in a bullpen that has been in constant flux. [Read more 🡒]
Cubs May Have Found The One Prospect They Refuse To Move
Josiah Hartshorns first full season in the Cubs system has moved him from promising draft pick to one of the organizations most talked-about names, and Baseball America now has the 19-year-old outfielder at the top of Chicagos farm. After starting in Low-A and moving up to High-A this year, Hartshorns bat and overall momentum have pushed him onto national top-100 lists at both Baseball America and MLB.com, a quick rise for a player the Cubs only added in 2025.
As the trade deadline approaches, the Cubs status as buyers only adds another layer to Hartshorns profile, because contenders often have to decide how much prospect capital they are willing to spend to chase the present. For Chicago, the question is less about whether Hartshorn has value and more about how far that value goes in the front offices thinking, especially when a young player is climbing this fast and drawing this much attention. [Read more 🡒]
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For now, the easiest paths to help run through Triple-A Iowa, where Aaron Bummer and Liam Hendriks have been assigned with a chance to work their way into the major-league bullpen. Both bring the kind of experience Chicago could use in a hurry if they pitch well, but the Cubs still have to piece together enough stable innings in the meantime, which keeps the next few weeks loaded with pressure and uncertainty. [Read more 🡒]