The Minor League levels have made it to the part of the season that is often considered to be the halfway point for prospects across America. At the Triple-A level, the Iowa Cubs are preparing for their All-Star break as Alberto Baldonado was their lone selection to the All-Star game festivities. All three of the remaining full season teams in the Cubs system had their All-Star breaks last Tuesday.
As the second half of the season picks up with the seasons of the Eugene Emeralds and Arizona League teams getting off the ground, we can’t move forward until we recognize the best hitters in the organization to this point.
The leaderboards below feature some guys that are considered the top prospects in the system and are not surprising names to see leading in any categories. They include the likes of Victor Caratini, David Bote, Miguel Amaya, and Mark Zagunis. But the difference between leaderboards and prospect lists is that we get to see some rather unfamiliar names that don’t get nearly the amount of love they deserve, as made evident by the impressive numbers they have displayed through June 27th. Seeing names such as Roberto Caro, Andruw Monasterio, Zach Davis, and Jared Young may be surprising now, but they are proving that they could be household names by season’s end.
The only requirements of the 2018 first half leaderboard is that the player must have a minimum of 100 minor league at-bats going into their June 28th matchup. The lone exception is Victor Caratini, who goes into Thursday with 96 ABs at the Triple-A level.
It should be interesting to see what names on these lists prove to be impressive as the season rolls on and which players begin to fall flat with an inability to keep up their torrid pace.
You can keep up with even more Minor League Baseball action by following Greg on Twitter @OutOfTheVines where he covers the I-Cubs, Smokies, Pelicans, SB-Cubs, and Emeralds.
Out of the Vines 