Chicago Cubs may have a 19-year-old phenom on their hands

The Chicago Cubs may have found their corner outfield solution in a post-Ian Happ, post-Seiya Suzuki future—no, it’s not Kevin Alcantara and, no, he’s not even in Double-A yet.

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Josiah Hartshorn has been absolutely killing it in his first full year in pro ball and he’s actually gotten better after his promotion from A-ball Myrtle Beach to High-A South Bend.

Since moving up, the 19-year-old has clubbed 8 home runs in 78 plate appearances, slashing a ridiculous .422/.474/.659 with an OPS of 1.334. On the year, he’s so far slashed a still-ridiculous .320/.439/.586.

Already ranked no. 64 in Baseball America’s list of Top 100 prospects, Hartshorn came to the Cubs as a fairly unheralded sixth round selection in the 2025 draft. His $2 million signing bonus from Chicago, however, spoke volumes as to how much the organization saw value in what they scouted as an elite bat. The record-breaking signing bonus for a sixth-rounder was also used to encourage the young prospect to ditch his commitment to Texas A&M and come straight into the Cubs organization.

Although viewed primarily as a bat-first prospect, his defense has come along and he profiles to be a solid major league corner outfielder. In the minors, he’s also played some center field and first base.

The elite bat of Josiah Hatshorn

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But the bat is where it’s at for the Orange, California native. The high on base percentage going along with the high batting average and home run power is a testament to a very disciplined approach at the plate, well beyond what could ever be reasonably expected of a hard-hitting offensive stud prospect.

Across two levels, he’s posted a strikeout rate just over 16% along with a walk rate also above 16%. According to FanGraphs’ sabermetric guidelines, both stats rate him elite-to-masterful when it comes to plate discipline.

All signs point to “he’s for real”

Of course, it’s still very early in Hartshorn’s pro career to go too far overboard about the numbers he’s putting up. Still, he already ranks among the best in several offensive categories at High-A—and he’s doing this at a much younger age than those putting up big numbers around him. There’s a case to be made that, right now, he’s the best younger-prospect hitter in all of minor league baseball.

Per Evan Altman of Cubs Insider:

“Hartshorn’s 168 wRC+ across both levels is good for 21st in all of the minors, but six of those ahead of him compiled at least some of their stats in the Complex League.

Of the players above him on the list, none of the 15 who’ve generated better results at A-ball and above are under 22 years old. And only two of those are that young, so we’re talking about an average age just shy of 24 for that group. For those who are reading this while holding their phone and thus can’t use their fingers to count, that means Hartshorn is nearly five years younger than his offensive peers.”

Nobody’s suggesting that Hartshorn will be heading to Wrigley next season to replace the free agency-bound outgoing Happ and/or Suzuki. But, maybe, the Cubs will just have to buy a year or two before getting the young power-hitting corner outfielder of their dreams.

The post Chicago Cubs may have a 19-year-old phenom on their hands appeared first on ChiCitySports.

Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-josiah-hartshorn-prospect-19-year-old-phenom/