Chicago Cubs’ 19-year-old phenom achieves elite-tier prospect status, according to Baseball America

The Chicago Cubs seem to have found a prospect diamond in the rough in the person of 19-year-old Josiah Hartshorn.

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In Baseball America’s most recent update to their Top 100 prospects list, the young outfielder was moved all the way up to no. 29. It was enough to elicit a “Hooooooooly crap” from Bleacher Nation’s Michael Cerami on Twitter/X.

Hartshorn’s ascension to elite-tier prospect status is an especially big deal given the surprise of it all.

Hartshorn’s quick rise

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He came to the Cubs as a fairly unheralded sixth round selection in the 2025 draft. However, his $2 million signing bonus from Chicago—a record-breaker for a sixth rounder—revealed just how much the organization valued what they saw as a top-tier bat.

The native of Orange, California didn’t play at all in 2025, but has been on an absolute rampage in this first year of professional ball. Originally pegged for A-ball Myrtle Beach, he quickly outgrew that level and was promoted to High-A South Bend, where he’s only gotten better and more lethal at the plate. He’s currently listed as the Cubs’ no. 3 prospect by MLB.com.

Through 32 games with the South Bend Cubs, Hartshorn is slashing .293/.367/.586 with 9 home runs and 35 RBIs—and that’s coming out of a recent minor slump. Over two levels, he’s slashing .282/.399/.518 with 14 home runs and 60 RBIs.

One of the more impressive things about the young talent is his plate discipline, which sees him already locked in at an elite-level walk rate (14.87%), alongside a solid 18.35% strikeout rate. His high on base percentage, along with the high batting average, home run power and low strikeout rate, places his performance so far well beyond what could ever be reasonably expected of a bat-first prospect selected as low in the draft as he was.

Jason Ross of North Side Baseball recently wrote up Hartshorn’s rise in the wake of his move up the Baseball America ladder:

“Josiah Hartshorn has had a rocket ship strapped to his back all season. He’s made quick work of Myrtle Beach and remains an outside chance of landing in Double-A Knoxville by the end of the year despite being 1.5 years shy of being able to order a beer at a ballgame. The 19-year old has been a revelation and an amazing draft pick so far. He even landed inside of the top 30 on Baseball America’s most recent top-100 list.”

The Cubs, by the way, placed three other prospects on the Top 100 list: Pedro Ramírez, Jefferson Rojas, and Kane Kepley.

The outfield of the future

Hartshorn’s progress is a big deal for a Cubs organization that was seen by many as depleted and on its way down. Combined with fellow outfield prospects Kepley and 2025 first round draft pick Ethan Conrad—who finally made his pro debut after recovering from assorted injuries—the Cubs seem to already have their outfield of the future set, although all three are still at High-A Ball or lower.

But this development may actually affect how the Cubs handle the pending free agency of corner outfielders Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki.

Will the team spend the money to sign one or both of the veteran outfielder to a deal that will probably be in excess of five years when they have a trio of quality prospects likely to rise quickly through the system?

That’s a question that will have to wait until the end of this season at the earliest.

For now, it looks like the Cubs may have a “real one” in Hartshorn.

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Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-josiah-hartshorn-top-prospect-baseball-america/