2017 Acquisition: Nelson Velazquez, OF
Birthday (age on opening day 2018): 12/26/1998 (19)
2017 teams/levels played for: Arizona Rookie League Cubs
2017 Stats: .236/.333/.536, 126 PA, 8 HR, 5 SB, 15/39 BB/K
Info: Velazquez moved from his native Puerto Rico to Florida to get more exposure, but was kicked out of high school in Florida (seemingly for academic reasons), so he returned back to the island. That meant less coverage in his draft season, so outside of a big performance in Puerto Rico’s predraft showcases, no one had really had good eyes on Velazquez before the draft.
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That all changed after the Chicago Cubs drafted Velazquez in the 5th round and he made his pro debut in the Arizona Rookie League. He hadn’t played in some time, so he had some issues with pitch recognition and zone recognition outside of the gate, but by the end of the season, he had really notably picked up in those areas as well.
Velazquez isn’t a hulking build sort of guy, but he does possess a typical right field profile with raw double-plus power and a plus arm. He’s raw in his routes defensively, but unlike the typical right field profile, he’s got fringe-plus speed as well that helps him overcome that right now.
Velazquez has a lot of learning left to his game at this point, but the raw tools are such that in a shallow system, he could rocket to the top by the end of 2018 quite feasibly.
The Chicago Cubs will likely leave Velazquez in extended spring, but how he handles instruction there could lead to him coming out of extended spring straight into low-A.
Next: CTTP's top 150 prospects
So that is the Chicago Cubs top 10 prospects for 2018. Who is too high? Too low? Missing entirely from the list? Comment below!!