Things to Read
- Remember, if you’re looking for more information on what in tarnation the Rule 5 Draft is, I wrote up a primer for you!
- Hayden Cantrelle came on the pod a few weeks ago and the way he detailed his experience with switch hitting was probably my favorite part of the show. So interesting, in fact, that I decided to turn it into a feature article.
- Baseball America is up to 75 names to watch for the Rule 5 Draft this afternoon and just three Cubs are included: Brandon Birdsell, Grant Kipp, and BJ Murray. By my vote, Kipp is the most likely Cub to get drafted.
- The Cubs made a minor move, sending Nico Zeglin to the Astros for IFA space. Zeglin was a minor league signing out of Indy ball in 2024 and although old for the two A-ball levels that year, was absurdly dominant in 66 innings as a swing man. He missed all of 2025 due to injury. Great scouting by the Cubs in turning an undrafted/indy ball guy into $250K in IFA dollars.
- Some more turnover in the Cubs organization, and this isn’t super unexpected. Otero reunites with Craig Breslow in Boston and Zombro continues his rapid ascent up the development tree.
Things to Watch
- The Rule 5 Draft is today! You can follow along in its entirety — both the MLB phase and the MiLB phase (if you’re a true sicko) — on MLB’s website! I’ll add the link here once it’s live!
I believe it will be happening at this link, but try the MLB home page if not!
- Former Cubs prospect (and current Banana Ball player) Chris Clarke joined the pod this week. He gives a super unique perspective on the Cubs organization as a guy that no longer in it. I really appreciated that he wasn’t all sunshines and rainbows about it. He’s also a very, very entertaining dude.
Things Worth Some Attention
- As Cubs fans, we absolutely can’t stop, won’t stop dreaming on Yohendrick Pinango. He’s been generating LOTS of Rule 5 buzz this week, which is especially interesting from a corner outfielder — a position that you don’t typically see taken in the draft.
- AZ Phil at The Cub Reporter dropped what is believed to be a list of 18 prospects the Cubs left unprotected ahead of today’s MINOR LEAGUE phase of the draft. I’ve never seen a list like this posted publicly so I have no idea the legitimacy of it, but there are some notable names here. The two that stand out the most to me are Casey Opitz, who is the exact type of player I believe the Cubs will be targeting in the MiLB phase and might not want to lose, and Dom Hambley, who produced last year despite a high walk rate.
- I was able to report that the Cubs signed Jace Beck to a minor league deal. Old for his level last year, clearly, but we’ve seen now more than ever that pitching age means very little.
- Owen Ayers was certifiably insane in the Arizona Fall League.
- Gotta show some love to Alex Cohen here given not only his ties to the Cubs system during his time in Iowa but also the work he does still for Cubs prospects on Marquee, especially on the Road to Wrigley whiparound show.
- I can picture Owen Caissie batting cleanup for Team Canada now and it’s beautiful.
- For quite some time, I’ve kept a Google Sheet containing all of the Cubs organization’s players. I figured it would be a fun thing to share with all of you for reference. It’s only the stateside guys (keeping track of fringe DSL players is an absolute nightmare) but it should have all 182 guys from Chicago down to Arizona. It’s available under the Prospect Databases tab on the website.
Out of the Vines 