Catching up on Cubs top prospects

With the Cubs continuing to flounder, I thought it would be a good time to check in on how the Cubs top 10 prospects (as rated by Baseball America) are doing.

1. Starlin Castro - Castro made a big splash in his debut, with a record-breaking 6 rbi's in his first game.  However, he has tailed off considerably since then and is hitting only .180/.268/.230 in June.  Before everyone starts to panic though, remember that Castro has only had 57 games above A ball in the minors and some growing pains are to be expected.  Still, he is a keeper and should be a key piece of the Cubs infield for years to come.


2. Brett Jackson - Jackson is thriving at high A Daytona, hitting .305/.407/.498 so far with 6 HR's and 12 SB's.  The Cubs center fielder of the future could earn a mid-season promotion to AA and could be in the majors by the end of next year.


3. Josh Vitters - Vitters played 28 games at high A Daytona before earning a promotion to AA Tenessee.  He hit .291/.350/.445 at A+, but has struggled at AA with a .226/.284/.315 line.  He's still probably a couple years away.


4. Andrew Cashner - After dominating in 9 starts between AA and AAA (2.13 ERA and 56 K's in 55 IP), Cashner was quickly converted to a reliever and called up to try to shore up the Cubs bullpen.  So far he's done well in relief, posting an 0.87 ERA in 8 appearances.  However, he belongs in the rotation and if the Cubs do decide to throw in the towel this year, they should send Cashner back down to AAA to work as a starter.


5. Jay Jackson - Jackson started the year at AAA Iowa and has done a decent job as a starter (4.29 ERA).  He was converted to a reliever briefly (7 games 1.17 ERA in 15.1 IP), before the Cubs decided to use Cashner as a reliever instead.  He could still be a factor for the Cubs this year.


6. Hak-Ju Lee - Lee started off slowly (.250 in April and .255 in May) before turning things up a notch in June (.323).  Overall he has hit .271 with 17 SB's at low A Peoria.  He will probably play the whole year at Peoria an be promoted to high A in 2011.


7. Logan Watkins - Lee's double play partner at Peoria, Watkins is only hitting .263/.340/.333 so far this year.  In 159 career games (587 AB's), he has yet to record a HR, but he does have 27 SB's to show for it.


8. Chris Carpenter - Carpenter is 5-2 with a 3.26 ERA at AA Tenessee.  He could move up to AAA in the next month or so.


9. Ryan Flaherty - Flaherty skipped a level and started at AA Tenessee to begin the season.  However, a paltry .183/.286/.254 earned him a demotion to low A, where he has performed much better (.325/.385/.878)


10. D.J. LeMahieu - LeMahieu has bee solid, but not spectatular at high A Daytona so far (.284/.314/.351).  He has 9 SB's on the year but no HR's.  Like Logan Watkins (above), LeMahieu has no power (zero HR's so far in his minor league career (109 games).