Hello Dynasty Baseball fans, and welcome to our poorly-named-yet-well-written, Companion Article Series! We will be publishing these the day after each team’s Top 10 Prospect Lists are shared. And while we will focus on the same organization, our companion pieces will not always be prospect-centric. Every author will choose to share their thoughts on whatever aspect of the team they are writing about. And if you want more than our Top 10 Lists and Companion Articles, donate $15 now to get over 20 prospects ranked per team plus access to our full rankings (pre-season, mid-year, FYPD, Org prospects). Or a $20 donation for the full rankings sheet and our Discord Channel. The link to our donation page can be found here.

Chicago Cubs and Fast Rising Prospects 

FYPD rankings and especially the actual drafts can be tricky. There are times when it seems the world is in on a player and their rank or the slot drafted is quickly confirmed at some point with spectacular play backing up what was already known. For this past FYPD season, take JoJo Parker for example. He was pretty much a consensus top five ranked player in FYPD rankings and routinely went in that range in drafts. This season, he is backing up those lofty values with a great debut at Single-A, hitting .269/.424/.500, with a 164 wRC+, and two home runs along with six doubles. Where you can excel in fantasy baseball value wise, is hitting on prospects that aren’t valued that highly who produce at a similar rate and have a fast rise up rankings. A low cost for a quick reward, with a huge value boost. One such player is the Chicago Cubs prospect Josiah Hartshorn.

Hartshorn was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the most recent MLB draft, taken in the sixth round, 181st overall. He stands 6-foot and is listed at 220 pounds. Already a big frame for a 19-year-old just coming out of high school, he has packed a punch in his minor league debut at Single-A Myrtle Beach. Over 14 games, he is hitting .327/.486/.538, with a 180 wRC+, two home runs, three doubles, and a triple. Maybe most importantly though, his plate discipline has been fantastic, as he is walking 22.9% of the time and only striking out at a 10.0% rate. Among qualified prospects under 20-years-old, he ranks seventh in wRC+, first in strikeout rate, third in walk rate, and twelfth in batting average.

The helium on Hartshorn has quickly inflated, with his value increasing exponentially pretty much every day so far, once the season began. He was an afterthought or deeper sleeper on most rankings for FYPDs and prospect ranks. He started with some early Spring Training buzz and has grown to a potential top 100 prospect already. Not many prospects show this quickly the ability to hit for power, take a walk, not strike out, and put up big numbers at just 19-years-old. If we were to rerank this past offseason’s FYPD players, it is pretty assured that Hartshorn would be in the top 30, likely the top 15, and maybe the top 10. That is a lofty jump and in such a short amount of time, but it is definitely deserved. If you were able to add Hartshorn at a low cost in FYPDs you could be sitting on a gold mine, and if he is available in any league still, now is the time to scoop him up. When rankings update, expect this Chicago Cubs gem to rocket up the lists into the top 100, or higher if he keeps hitting like this.

The Chicago Cubs weren’t done with deep sleepers from the draft, as they took Pierce Coppola in the seventh round, 211th overall out of the University of Florida. Coppola is older due to dealing with a lot of injuries at Florida. He was a four-year player, but only managed 49 innings pitched over three seasons, in those four years. He pitched at Single-A Myrtle Beach after being drafted and threw eight innings. He had a 2.25 ERA, which came with a crazy 36.8% strikeout rate and an equally bad walk rate of 23.7%. There has been a little hype around Coppola this spring, and he is currently on the Cubs’ Developmental List. Standing 6-foot-8 and listed at 245 pounds, he has a big frame and is a good candidate to increase his velocity as he gets older and continues to stay healthy finally. With his long arms and legs, he generates great extension and has a deceptive delivery. Once he gets back on the mound in the minor leagues, we could see a huge jump in his value as a prospect, similar to Hartshorn. If so, now is the time to add him, when it should cost basically nothing. Big things could be around the corner for Coppola, if he can stay healthy.