The Cubs high-A affiliate features some strong pitching this year.
The final of our four minor league affiliates is the closest one to Chicago, the High-A South Bend Cubs of the Midwest League. The South Bend Cubs start their season tonight at Beloit. Their home opener at Four Winds Field is on Monday at 7:05 Eastern Time against the Peoria Chiefs.
While Iowa is certainly the most interesting team this season in terms of prospects, South Bend may be second on that list, headlined by the Opening Night starter, Jaxon Wiggins.
Who is in charge? For the second-straight season, South Bend’s manager is Nick Lovullo. This is the 31-year-old Lovullo’s third season overall in the Cubs organization. Lovullo was a 20th-round pick of the Red Sox in 2016 out of Holy Cross. He was an infielder in the Red Sox and Marlins organizations from 2016 to 2021. And in case you are wondering, yes. Nick is the son of Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo.
The new pitching coach this year is George Thanopoulos, who was Myrtle Beach’s pitching coach last season and is in his fifth season coaching with the Cubs organization. Thanopoulos was a 27th-round pick by the Rockies out of Columbia in 2016 and pitched two seasons in short-season Boise.
The assistant pitching coach is Jose Zapata, who pitched for the Cubs’ Dominican Summer League team in 2013. (He was really good, too. He must have gotten injured.) Zapata coached for that DSL team from 2015 to 2022 before coaching in Mesa the past two seasons.
Hitting coach Nate Spears is back for a second season in South Bend. Longtime minor league watchers may remember that Spears was the minor leaguer the Cubs got from the Orioles in the Corey Patterson trade in 2006. He was an infielder in the Cubs organization between 2006 and 2009, reaching as high as Triple-A Iowa. He then moved on to the Red Sox organization where he reached the majors for seven games in 2011 and 2012. After his playing career ended in 2015, he was a coach in the Red Sox organization where he coached manager Nick Lovullo.
Daniel Wasinger is the bench coach after serving as the developmental coach for Myrtle Beach last year. The Cubs drafted Wasinger in the 38th round out of high school in 2014, but he decided to attend Southeastern Louisiana instead of signing. The Diamondbacks then took him in the 31st round in 2018 and he played two years in their organization, reaching as high as then-low-A Midwest League.
Who are the pitchers?
RHP Yovanny Cabrera
LHP Burl Carraway
RHP Nolan Clenney
RHP Nick Dean
RHP Kenten Egbert
LHP Angel Hernandez
RHP Johzan Oquendo
RHP Kenyi Perez
RHP Vince Reilly
RHP Luis Rujano
LHP Marino Santy
RHP Connor Schultz
LHP Chase Watkins
RHP Jaxon Wiggins
The big name here is Jaxon Wiggins, who is the Cubs’ ninth-best prospect according to Baseball America. The Cubs took Wiggins in the second-round in 2023 despite him having missed his entire junior year at Arkansas with Tommy John surgery. In his first year back, he showed a plus fastball in the 96-97 mph range that touched 100 at times. His slider is top-notch as well and his changeup is promising. Wiggins struggled with control at times, which is common both with pitchers coming off of TJ surgery and with tall pitchers like Wiggins, who is 6’6”. If he can learn to throw strikes this year, look out. His ceiling is high.
Baseball America ranked Nick Dean as the Cubs’ 28th-best prospect. Dean’s best pitch is his changeup, which is his go-to pitch when he needs a swing and a miss. The rest of his arsenal—fastball, curve, slider—are more pedestrian, but he commands it well and they play better than their pure stuff. He’s a potential #5 starter/swingman if he succeeds. Dean was a teammate of Matt Shaw’s at Maryland.
Kenten Egbert was a successful starter for the Pelicans last year, going 7-2 with a 3.04 ERA. Angel Hernandez was very good for the first half of last year in Myrtle Beach and quite poor after his promotion to South Bend.
Kenyi Perez had a miserable season last year in Myrtle Beach (9.47 ERA over 38 innings—highlighted by 60 walks!) but he’s got some electric stuff. If he can learn to throw strikes, he has closer potential. BA ranked Perez as the Cubs’ 36th-best prospect.
Marino Santy is a left-handed bullpen arm that intrigues me.
The Cubs took Burl Carraway in the second round in 2020 and he’s pretty much been hurt since then. He has missed the past two-and-a-half seasons with injuries. He was considered to be the best reliever in the draft that year, but who knows what he is now.
Who are the catchers?
Ariel Armas
David Avitia
Miguel Pabon
The name to watch here is Ariel Armas, who was the Cubs’ fifth-round pick last summer out of San Diego. He’s considered a good defender who moves well behind the plate and has a above-average arm. He only hit .204 in 49 at-bats in South Bend last year, but scouts praised his contact skills coming out of college and he may have been hitting into bad luck in a small sample size. He’s not likely to hit for much power, but there’s certainly a backup catcher profile there. (And really, there are no backup catchers these days. They all play.) Baseball America ranked Armas as the Cubs’ 40th-best prospect.
Who are the infielders?
1B Edgar Alvarez
3B Drew Bowser
SS Reivaj Garcia
SS Cristian Hernandez
3B Brian Kalmer
INF/LF Reginald Preciado
2B Carter Trice
The big name here is Cristian Hernandez, who signed with the Cubs to great fanfare as an international free agent in 2021. His first few years in the Cubs system were a big “meh,” not even coming close to the lofty predictions when he signed. But Hernandez turned a corner in 2024, putting up a .788 OPS in tough-to-hit Myrtle Beach before his late promotion to South Bend. He made more contact last year and drew more walks. He also started to tap into the power that many predicted he would develop. Defensively, he’s good enough to stick at shortstop. Hernandez is still only 21, so he’s still young for his level. Hernandez doesn’t look like a superstar anymore, but now there does look like there’s a path to a major-league future for him.
Reivaj Garcia has some good hit tools and hit .284 for South Bend last year. Unfortunately, it was an empty .284 as he doesn’t walk much, doesn’t hit for power and doesn’t steal bases. Still, you have to like his contact skills.
Brian Kalmer caused a stir after he was taken in the 18th round out of Gonzaga in 2023 and proceeded to hit .358/.423/.683 with ten home runs in 32 games in tough-to-hit Myrtle Beach. Kalmer came crashing down to earth in South Bend in 2024, hitting just .196/.293/.385 with 11 home runs in 83 games. Obviously there is some power there, but his contact skills last year were abysmal. He needs to make a lot more contact to be interesting again.
Edgar Alvarez was the Cubs’ eighth-round pick out of Nicholls State last year. Reginald Preciado was one of the four players the Cubs got from the Padres for Yu Darvish. Five years later, he’s finally made it to High-A.
Who are the outfielders?
Ivan Brethowr
Andy Garriola
Rafael Morel
Andy Garriola hit 18 home runs in 90 games for Myrtle Beach last season. That got him promoted to South Bend where he hit three more home runs in 17 games. Strikeouts are a big issue for Garriola, but the power is certainly enticing and he did hit .246 with a .319 OBP between the two levels. Baseball America has him as the Cubs’ 39th-best prospect.
Ivan Brethowr turned some heads in Spring Training with a big home run and some nice defense in right field. He also got some Aaron Judge comparisons, although we should be quick to note that they were referring to his physical build and not Judge’s hitting ability. Still, Brethowr, who was the Cubs’ seventh-round pick out of UC-Santa Barbara in last year’s draft, does have some real power potential. Brethowr struggled a bit in low-A Myrtle Beach last year, but it was only 23 games. This year we should find out if there’s anything there with Brethowr.
For those of you missing Christopher Morel, his little brother Rafael Morel is still with the Cubs. He’s back in South Bend again this year after hitting .226/.316/.341 with eight home runs and six steals in 84 games.