Jefferson Rojas claims the top spot while first-round fireballer Cade Townsend headlines a trio of 2026 draftees injecting elite power and high-spin potential into Chicago’s revamped farm system.
The Chicago Cubs have a new set of top-10 prospects on ESPN.
ESPN recently updated each team’s top-10 prospects with the new 2026 draft picks included. This caused significant movement across all 30 Major League Baseball teams.
That was definitely true of the Cubs’ new top-10 prospect list.
The Cubs have a new top prospect in Jefferson Rojas, who moves up from No. 2 to No. 1. Josiah Hartshorn (No. 2) and Jaxon Wiggins (No. 3) all move up one spot, and Kane Kepley rises three spots from No. 7 to No. 4.
The three biggest additions to Chicago’s top-10 list were their 2026 draftees. Cade Townsend (first-round) is at the No. 7 spot, Caden Sorrell (second-round) is at the No. 9 spot, and Myles Bailey (second-round) is at the No. 10 spot.
It’s nice to see three 2026 draft picks immediately debut inside the top-10 in the organization. The recent graduation of both Kevin Alcantara and Pedro Ramirez definitely helped with that.
Unsurprisingly, Townsend is ranked the highest among all the Cubs’ draft picks. He immediately finds himself inside the top-10 and is already the No. 3 pitching prospect in the system, only behind Wiggins and Kaleb Wing (No. 5).
Townsend is one of the best spin throwers in the class. He has an elite spin rate on his four-seam fastball, slider, and curveball and does a good job mixing up his pitches with a five-pitch mix.
In his final college season at Mississippi, the right-hander finished with a 3.94 ERA, a 1.203 WHIP, and a 31.9% strikeout rate across 64 innings pitched. Townsend also gave up just nine home runs and held opponents to a .218 batting average.
Sorrell and Bailey then checked in a few spots below Townsend in ESPN’s recent prospect update. The Cubs didn’t take many hitters in this draft (five), yet two of them are already top-10 prospects in the system.
Sorrell and Bailey are very similar hitters in the sense that they both have some of the best pop in the class, but both struggle with some swing and miss stuff. Sorrell had a 32% whiff rate in his final college campaign at Texas A&M, while Bailey had a 36.3% whiff rate with Florida State in 2026.
Both hitters, though, have a ton of potential.
Sorrell slashed .341/.434/.743 with 23 home runs, 20 doubles, 76 RBI, and 11 stolen bases with the Aggies this past college season. The 21-year-old has such a smooth swing and tallied double-digit home runs in all three of his college years.
As for Bailey, he might have the most raw power in this year’s draft class. The lefty slugger hit 19 home runs as a true freshman in 2025 and then hit 13 home runs in 26 games this past season before suffering a gruesome leg injury. He had a whopping 29.2% barrel rate, a .354 expected batting average, and a .584 xwOBA in 2026.
Here’s the full top-10 list for the Cubs:
- Jefferson Rojas, SS
- Josiah Hartshorn, OF
- Jaxon Wiggins, RHP
- Kane Kepley, OF
- Kaleb Wing, RHP
- Ethan Conrad, OF
- Cade Townsend, RHP
- Owen Ayers, C
- Caden Sorrell, OF
- Myles Bailey, 1B
