Cubs Prospects Showing Promise This Spring

By Rob Winn in News on Mar 20, 2014 9:50PM

Javier Baez is hot this spring, knocking eye-popping home runs on a regular basis. With his offensive prowess on display, Cubs fans have come out of the woodwork calling for him to be on the opening day roster. In 39 at-bats this spring Baez has 5 home runs and is hitting .308 with a matching on-base percentage. With a hot prospect ready and another losing season on the horizon, Cubs fans are clamoring for something, anything to offer hope for the future.

However, Cubs president Theo Epstein previously dismissed calls to speed up the organization's process saying, "We're building something that's going to be really special. We have to be patient to get there, and we're asking a lot of our fans. But the reason we feel OK asking our fans to be patient is because we know what we're building toward is going to be great."

Bolstering Epstein's argument is the fact that waiting to call up Baez for a short time will protect the Cubs and keep him under their control through 2020. Because of the collective bargaining agreement a player needs to be on the major league roster for 172 days for a full year of service. So if the Cubs wait until late April or early May, they will have Baez for 6 full years after 2014 before he becomes a free agent.

Also, working against the argument that Baez should start the year with the big club is the fact that he has drawn zero walks all spring. For analytic baseball minds, this shows a lack of patience and points to future problems when big league pitchers are working with their full arsenal.

Prospect Mike Olt has a slightly better chance of making the big league roster. Olt, a former first-round pick, was acquired from the Texas Rangers in the Matt Garza trade and has already seen time in the MLB. After post-concussion vision problems doomed his 2013 minor league campaign. Olt will begin to see time at his normal position of 3rd base starting Thursday after arm problems kept him as the designated hitter or playing 1st base.

Chances are both Baez and Olt will both start the season in Triple A Iowa to get comfortable before getting an early to mid-season promotion. (Which should make July and August mildly interesting.) The Cubs front office brain trust is staunchly opposed to changing their process to appease fans, especially if it is detrimental down the road when they plan on being in contention. At least the fine folks in Iowa are in for some exciting baseball.