The Bowman Cubs Prospects From 2010

I've been looking at the 2014 version Bowman the past few days.  Today I'd like to add a wrinkle and look at the Cubs prospects in the Bowman set from four years ago.  Four years should be enough time to tell whether a player become a big league player

How well did Bowman do predicting which players might make it in the majors?  There were eight Cubs prospects in the 2010. Let's take a look and see how many of the eight have had major league success.

First, there is one player that definitely made it with the Cubs...

....Starlin Castro.  In fact, Castro was just coming up to the Cubs from AA when the Bowman set was released in 2010 and he was a pretty hot commodity back then.  He's also seemed to turn things around after a pretty poor season last year, so it's safe to say that Topps was right on with including Castro in the 2010 set.

Andrew Cashner is another successful major leaguer, though not with the Cubs.  He was traded to the Padres after the 2011 season, netting the Cubs Anthony Rizzo.  Since then Cashner has been a starter for the Padres and has done a decent job.  This looks like one of those trades that worked out for both teams.

Another prospect that's with another team is DJ LeMahieu.  Darwin Barney froze LeMahieu out of a spot at second base, so he was traded to the Rockies after the 2011 season.  The Cubs got Ian Stewart, filling a need at third base.  On paper it seemed like a good trade.  It wasn't.  Stewart couldn't hit and was a jerk when sent to AAA.  The Cubs released him last season.  LeMahieu has turned out to be a serviceable infielder and he's become a .280s hitter.  Turns out the Cubs should have kept him and traded Barney. 

Brett Jackson came to the Cubs in August of 2012 with lots of hype.  Many felt he wasn't major league ready, but he was brought up anyway.  Turns out he wasn't ready and may never be ready.  During the two months he was with the Cubs in 2012 he played in 44 games, had 120 at bats, hit .175 and struck out 59 times.  When you strike out nearly half the time your at the plate, you are not ready for the major leagues!  Last year in AAA he hit only .223 and this year his average is .161.  He is the Cubs poster boy for why you shouldn't rush a player to the major leagues.

Hak-Ju Lee was traded by the Cubs after the 2010 season, going to the Rays in the Matt Garza trade.  A shortstop, the emergence of Starlin Castro made Lee expendable.  He's worked his way through the Ray's chain and is in AAA right now.  He tore up his knee in April 2013 and missed most of last year.  At Durham this season he's hitting .189 in 18 games.

The last three players have yet to sniff the big leagues.

Pitcher Jeff Antigua has finally made it to AAA.  It took him seven seasons.  In fact, last year he was in all levels, A, A+, AA, and AAA and was 8-3 altogether.  With Iowa this year he's 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA in four appearances out of the bullpen.  

Jae-Hoon Ha is no longer progressing.  Last year he split time between AA and AAA, but his AAA numbers were anything to impress.  This year it was back to AA where he is hitting only .208.

The last of the eight is Logan Watkins.  He has steadily climbed through the system, spending a year at each level.  Last year he reached AAA and has started the 2014 season there, too.  Right now he's got batting average of .295.  He's also played in the all three outfield positions and every infield position except first base.  It looks like he's trying to show some versatility to win a spot with the big club.

So the final tally...three major leaguers, one with some time in the show, but it wasn't good, and four still trying to make it.