Chicago Cubs championship rings

You read that headline correctly: the Chicago Cubs have championship rings.  It’s not for the World Series though.  It’s not the Major League club.  The class A advanced affiliate Daytona Cubs of the Florida State League were 2013 champions.  They defeated the Charlotte Stone Crabs with a 3-1 series victory.

The rings for the team were recently released.  Although the Major League team has not won a World Series since 1908, their minor league affiliate and prospects now have a piece of hardware to show off.  That may be the only ring they get while in the Cubs’ organization, as history is obviously not on the Cubs’ side.  They are long overdue for a World Series victory though.

Daytona sported prospects such as Javier Baez, the number 9 overall pick in 2011.  He is the Cubs’ top rated prospect and could break into the Majors in the next few seasons.  With Starlin Castro on the roster, Baez may need to switch positions.  He batted .274 with 17 home runs in high A and .294 with 20 home runs for the AA Tennessee Smokies in 2013.

Antother top prospect (Cubs’ 2013 #3 on MLB.com) was right fielder Jorge Soler.  He batted .281 in 210 ab-bats in Daytona.  Soler was signed from Cuba in 2012 and was a key target after Yoenis Cespedes and Yasiel Puig were signed by Oakland and the Los Angeles Dodgers respectively.  He has had some troubles with attitude on the field, but once he figures out how baseball is played in America, he has the talent to take over a spot on the Major League roster sooner rather than later.

While there may be a curse on the Cubs, the young prospects in the farm system at least have some experience winning under their belts.  If that can carry over once they progress through the system and hopefully to the Majors, Chicago could find itself at least competing for a playoff spot.