Pierce Johnson, it seems like for as long as we can remember, has been the Cubs’ pitching prospect. At a time when hitters dominated the ranks of Chicago’s minor league system, and not to mention all the headlines, Johnson was alone on the pitching side. The hitters have graduated, but Johnson’s trajectory toward the big leagues […]
Tag: Pierce Johnson
Prospect Day: The “Next Five”
It’s prospect day for Cubs fans here at BP, as our friends over at the main site dropped their final top 10 list for the defending top farm system of 2015. You should definitely check out Craig Goldstein and Chris Crawford’s outstanding write-up before reading this piece. In addition to individual assessments of the best prospects […]
The Still-Exciting BP 101: Exploiting Loopholes… Again?
Pierce Johnson is, by all accounts, a pretty good pitcher. Last year, Baseball Prospectus ranked him as the 83rd best prospect in baseball. He was also the only pitcher the Cubs placed on that list (they had a total of seven players make the list in 2015). And while that certainly means something (and I’m […]
Young Cubs Special Edition – The Arizona Fall League
Arizona’s brick red landscape is paved with unfulfilled potential and broken promises; the kinds of stories that you read about years later and wonder what the hell you were thinking exactly. Arizona is also home to the types of stories that make you want to believe in projection, plus bat speed, elite fastballs, and breaking […]
YOUNG CUBS: RAINING ON THE PARADE (OF PROSPECTS)
Hello, readers. Welcome to another edition of “Young Cubs.” The draft is now over and with the dust having settled, we now know who some of the soon-to-be Cubs minor leaguers are. The first day of the draft is, without a doubt, the one most likely to produce major-league talent. As such, the Cubs used […]
Can He Pitch, Though?
Photo courtesy of Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports Heading into the season, the Cubs pitching depth was a potential point of weakness for a team that was looking to compete in 2015. They did sign Jon Lester, but as the season has gone on it’s become clear that the fourth and fifth spots in the rotation […]