Here at Legends on Deck our passion is prospects and the offseason presents an outstanding opportunity for us to showcase some of baseball’s top up and comers. Throughout the offseason, we will be bringing you the top ten prospects from all 30 organizations. We will start with the Arizona Diamondbacks and work our way alphabetically all the way through the Washington Nationals. This series is the opinion of Jake Berry, Senior Editor at Legends on Deck and does not reflect any official MLB rankings.
#10 – OF Cole Roederer
2019 Opening Day Age: 19 ETA: 2022 Top Future Tool: Glove
2018 Stats (Rookie): 142 AB’s .275/.354/.465, 5 HR, 24 RBI, 13 SB
Roederer makes this list over another outfielder that the Cubs took before him in the 2018 draft, Brennen Davis. This is thanks largely to the fact that I believe in the California product’s tools all the way across the board. A definite centerfielder with great athleticism, a present hit tool that is getting even better every day and a fast bat that screams more power down the road, yes please.
#9 – RHP Erich Uelmen
2019 Opening Day Age: 22 ETA: 2020 Top Future Pitch: SI
2018 Stats (Single-A/High-A): 8-8, 3.83 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 82 SO, 30 BB
I’m probably higher on Uelmen than most because I still value a pitch to contact approach (if you do it right). The top pitch in the righty’s repertoire is a diving sinker that induces a lot of weak groundball contact. Many think he is destined for the bullpen in the majors, I believe that is the absolute floor for Uelmen.
#8 – SS Aramis Ademan
2019 Opening Day Age: 20 ETA: 2021 Top Future Tool: Glove
2018 Stats (High-A): .207/.291/.273, 3 HR, 38 RBI, 9 SB
A year ago, Ademan would have been much higher on this list. While he is still the second best defensive player in the system, at a premier position I might add, I’d love to see more from the bat in 2019. Historically he has been young for his level, so I am holding out hope that the bat will catch up to the competition with more game reps. The intangibles are there, the results are not.
#7 – LHP Brailyn Marquez
2019 Opening Day Age: 20 ETA: 2021 Top Future Pitch: CB
2018 Stats (Rookie): 1-4, 3.21 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 52 SO, 14 BB
I might be going out on a limb saying that Marquez’s top future pitch is his curveball considering he has touched 98 with his heater, but developing that breaking pitch is what will really separate the Dominican lefty from the pack. You only see the Rookie stats above, but Marquez did get a taste (seven innings) of Single-A in 2018 as well.
#6 – RHP Alex Lange
2019 Opening Day Age: 23 ETA: 2020 Top Future Pitch: CB
2018 Stats (High-A): 6-8, 3.74 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 101 SO, 38 BB
The LSU product will more than likely make the jump to Double-A next year. He has an above average fastball, curveball combo and when he is commanding both of those pitches, he is pretty much untouchable. This is a very weird thing to nominate someone for (he said as he writes this at 4:41 in the morning) but I’m going to nominate Lange for “Most Likely Pitcher in the Cubs System to throw a Minor League No-Hitter in 2019”. Do what you will with that take.
Featured Image: Aramis Ademan (Courtesy of Mathew Carper/Legends on Deck)
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