The Chicago Cubs boast one of the best farm systems in all of baseball, setting them up to not only be successful now but for the foreseeable future.
Having such a talent-rich group of prospects is what made Jed Hoyer and company comfortable enough to make an aggressive move for someone like Kyle Tucker in an offseason blockbuster with the Houston Astros. While dealing away Cam Smith to get Tucker may prove to haunt the Cubs for the next decade and a half, there's plenty of talent to supplement the hole Smith leaves.
With guys like Matt Shaw, Cade Horton, Owen Caissie, Moises Ballesteros and James Triantos, it would be easy for other talented players to get lost in the shuffle when looking at who is going to make an impact down the line for Chicago.
This is the case with someone who is still a top-100 prospect in baseball but ranks below all the aforementioned players - at least for now.
Kevin Alcántara, currently rated as the Cubs' No. 6 prospect, has all the makings of a future superstar. With better speed and defense than even his very strong bat, he projects out as a future 20/20 player.
The 22-year-old has torn through spring training thus far, slashing a ridiculous .429/.467/.571 through six games played. Though it's an admittedly small sample size, Alcántara started to show during the 2024 season that he is ready to shine sooner rather than later.
Shockingly making the climb to the MLB level after a tremendous showing in both Double-A and Triple-A, he is looking to become a mainstay at the MLB level.
Through trade negotiations all summer for various stars, it seemed Chicago was hesitant to deal Alcántara away, and for good reason. Through 76 games in Tennessee, the young slugger had slashed .272/.342/.409 with nine home runs and 39 RBI, but when he got called up to Iowa, he started to make an even bigger impact.
Alcántara's production at the Triple-A level was impossible for the team to ignore with a .292/.378/.469 slash line and another five home runs in just 35 games before wrapping up the regular season with three games at the MLB level.
"Kevin wants to be great," manager Craig Counsell said of the young star via Jordan Bastian of MLB.com this week. "He’s a young man. That’s the biggest thing. He’s a very young player. And that’s the thing you really have to keep in mind. He’s still very young."
Though Alcántara is young, he is seemingly on the cusp of being ready to contribute in a big way.
His long term positional fit looks like it could be a question mark however, which is why many have made the case he should have been traded away.
A natural center fielder, Alcántara will be blocked there if Pete Crow-Armstrong continues his ascension and will have to switch to a corner spot. Obviously, the Cubs would love to keep Tucker around for the long haul, but in the likely scenario that isn't possible, Alcántara could be the next man up there.
Likely competing with Caissie to earn the job in 2026, this is a massive year for the development of Alcántara no matter if he makes the roster or begins the year in Triple-A.
