When Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer took over and built their new front office with the Cubs, they preached the importance of building a sustained winner from within, with an emphasis on adding impact prospects to the farm system.
One of their first moves was acquiring young first baseman Anthony Rizzo in January for Andrew Cashner, and they haven't looked back since.
After the trade deadline and the signings of international man of mystery Jorge Soler and 2012 first-round draft pick Albert Almora, it was time to take a look at an updated list of the Cubs' top prospects, which is exactly what John Arguello over at CubsDen compiled Thursday.
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Here are the 20 in order as John sees it:
1. Javier Baez, SS
2. Jorge Soler, OF
3. Albert Almora, OF
4. Arodys Vizcaino, RHP
5. Brett Jackson, OF
6. Josh Vitters, 3B
7. Christian Villanueva, 3B
8. Matt Szczur, OF
9. Jeimer Candelario, 3B
10. Pierce Johnson, RHP
11. Dillon Maples, RHP
12. Gioskar Amaya, 2B
13. Junior Lake, SS
14. Dan Vogelbach, 1B
15. Trey McNutt, RHP
16. Arismendy Alcantara, SS
17. Ronald Torreyes, 2B
18. Duane Underwood, RHP
19. Tony Zych, RHP
20(t). Marco Hernandez, SS
20(t). Logan Watckins, 2B
Vizcaino (4) and Villanueva (7) were acquired from the Braves and Rangers, respectively, at the deadline.
Those two join Soler, Almora, Johnson, Torreyes and Underwood as Top 20 players acquired by Epstein and Co. since they took over roughly nine months ago. Add Rizzo to that list and the new front office has acquired eight Top 20 prospects since taking over, averaging out to almost one a month. That's incredible stuff.
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That being said, the organization still lacks pitching prospects, namely in the starting rotation. Vizcaino's shaky injury history may mean he's more suited for a relief role in the future (though he could be a dominant setup man or even closer). All other pitchers below him on this list are still years away from the big leagues, if they even make it at all.
It'll be curious to see what John's Top 20 prospect list looks like if the Cubs do wind up trading Matt Garza this winter. He could fetch two or three impact prospects.