By: Jacob Zanolla
One of Jed Hoyer’s main accomplishments during his time in charge of the Chicago Cubs has been the farm system, which he has grown into one of the best in all of baseball. Leading the way is the Tennessee Smokies, Chicago’s Double-A affiliate. They have the best record of any Cubs minor league team this season and are coming off of a championship season in 2023 when they won the Southern League Championship for the first time in 45 years.
This championship team included top prospects like Cade Horton and Matt Shaw, along with others as well. Matt Shaw, James Triantos, and Kevin Alcantara were promoted to Triple-A Iowa in early August, but that hasn’t stopped the Smokies from barreling through opponents. They’re 26-10 since August 4th and have the best record in the Southern League by several games. The excellent finish earned them a 47-22 record, the best in all of Double-A. Most would have expected the Smokies to get worse after the trio of top prospects left, myself included. However, they’ve persevered, and look to use some not-so-known talent to win it all once again.
Tennessee is home to 7 top 30 prospects. The biggest name is Cam Smith, who was drafted After destroying Low-A and High-A, Smith got the promotion to Tennessee and has a .262 average. He’s cooled down from the prior levels, as expected, but it’s still really exciting to see him perform so well on a daily basis. MLB Pipeline has Smith as the sixth best prospect in the Cubs farm system, and the 100th best prospect in all of baseball!
Pablo Aliendo has slowly worked his way through the Cubs system, arriving in Tennessee last year. He only has 197 at-bats this season, but he’s posted a .808 OPS in that time. This has earned him a rather high spot in the Cubs top 30 prospects, sitting at #13, just a few spots behind Smith.
Brett Bateman has been quite solid for the Smokies this season. He’s a contact and speed threat, which makes him perfect for the center field position. Bateman currently has a .272 average with 30 stolen bases and 16 extra base hits. Bateman has an ETA of 2026, and is the 17th ranked prospect for Chicago.
Will Sanders is currently #26, the only active pitcher on the top prospects list with Tennessee. He was drafted in the fourth round last season, and has quickly moved up to AA, with a 4.66 ERA this season. The strikeout numbers are really impressive, with 109 Ks in 96.2 innings.
Benjamin Cowles is the last player I wanted to focus on. Cowles was acquired from the New York Yankees in July, along with reliever Jack Neely. Chicago shipped off Mark Leiter Jr., receiving two top 30 prospects in return. Cowles had broken a bone in his wrist prior to being acquired by the Cubs, but made a quick recovery and is ready to help the Smokies make a run for the title. Cowles is the third Smokies player that made MLB Pipeline’s Cubs top 30 prospects list, coming in at #30.
Christian Franklin (23rd ranked) and Brody McCullough (25th) are both injured, but I wanted to mention them since they’re still top prospects.
Tuesday is game 1 of the division series, which the Smokies will host in Sevierville. They’ll take on the Birmingham Barons, who are the AA team for the White Sox. The Smokies finished 16 games above the Barons in the standings, but went 13-16 against the Barons when facing them directly.
Joe Nahas, a long reliever for the Smokies, told Ivy League Cubs that the team is feeling. excited, and confident in their talent. Nahas said, “We are all feeling excited for playoffs to get started. We all believe in each other and are confident that we can win it again this year to make sure that the reigning champs are staying champs.”
Manager Lance Rymel looks to lead his team to back-to-back championships for the first time in team history, and the players are feeling great ahead of game 1 on Tuesday night.
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