Trio of Cubs top prospects go deep
Baez, Bryant and Alcantara homer on big day in Minors
A trio of the Cubs' top prospects went deep Wednesday, from the slumping Javier Baez to the streaking Kris Bryant.
Baez, the Cubs' top prospect, hit his fifth homer of the season and his second in five games for Triple-A Iowa, which beat Round Rock, 6-2. The 21-year-old shortstop's numbers have taken a hit this season, as he's batting only .178 with a sub-.600 OPS for the Cubs after a couple monster offensive years in the lower Minors.
Ranked sixth on MLBPipeline.com's Top 100 Prospects list, Baez hit a combined 37 homers, posted a .920 OPS, drove in 111 runs and stole 20 bases between two Minor League levels last season.
Bryant, the Cubs' No. 2 prospect and the eighth-best in baseball, also went deep Wednesday. Bryant's first-inning solo shot was his 12th of the year, making him the Southern League leader. In fact, nobody else in the Southern League has even hit 10 homers.
Picked second overall in the 2013 Draft, the 22-year-old slugger is batting .323/.416/.610 with 11 doubles and 37 RBIs this season.
Rounding out the trio is Arismendy Alcantara, the Cubs' sixth-ranked prospect. The switch-hitting Alcantara, 22, hit his fourth homer of the season and his second in four games for Iowa on Wednesday. Overall this season, the second baseman, ranked 77th among all prospects, is batting .270/.306/.491 with 13 doubles, five triples, 22 RBIs and nine stolen bases in 42 games.