if anyone’s interested. Just my take. I’m sure there’s more knowledgeable folks out there that can speak to these guys.

Jay Jackson – A personal favorite, the 9th round pick from 2008 was a 2-way player in college. A very good athlete, the Cubs drafted him as a pitcher. At the time he was drafted, there were positive reports on his character, work ethic, and in general, the off-field, non-baseball aspects looked good. (more on that later). He burst up the Cubs system last year, with quick stops in the lower levels, ending the year on Daytona’s, FSL championship squad. In a mild surprise to some, the Cubs bumped him to AA to start 2009. After a slow 3 game start, he got on a solid roll and for a couple months, was one of the better pitchers in the Southern League. Then, his control collapsed, and then he got demoted for off-field issues. I’m hopeful that the character issue was one of youth, and not a serious flaw, but it was disappointing. More disappointing was the fact that, in getting bumped back to A+, we didn’t get to find out, as fans, how seriously we should judge the control issues. That was because his stuff was simply too good for A+, and he dominated there. The Cubs called him up to AAA Iowa for one start to end the year. Jackson features a low-mid 90’s fastball (slightly up from last year), with a plus curveball. There’s a solid slider, and a usable change, but one that needs more work. There are, as of now, no serious delivery mechanical or delivery issues. There’s some ironing out to do (and still some believe that, if he cleans stuff out, he might gain a tiny tick more on the fastball). The control’s the concern. Former Cubs farmhand Donald Veal was never able to figure it out. I don’t think of it as a serious issue, but that may be biased from when I saw him pitch. Jay Jackson was rated the 11th best prospect by BA this year, in a loaded Southern League class.

Hak-ju Lee – The Cubs big international signing from a couple years back (750 grand), the South Korean (one of several in the Cubs system) has loads of tools. He had a solid year, showing an advanced approach at the plate (for his age, imo). There’s not much power, but some expect some natural power to develop as he physically matures. The bigger issue is that, while he’s a big shortstop, and while he’ll grow some more, he might not be able to generate more power unless he revamps his swing, which is more of a balanced, get on base approach. Think Ichiro I guess (remember, many folks always thought that Ichiro could hit more home runs if he simply wanted to). Actually, a minor league offensive comp I make is Che-Hsuan Lin (see minorleaguesplits and Lin’s adjusted line, granted, all minor league stats should be taken with a grain of salt). He has enough discipline at his age to be excited about, he makes good contact. Esteemed Cubs minor league online guru, AzPhil, over at thecubreporter, once said that Hak-ju Lee was faster than Tony Campana, and Tony Campana is blazing fast. For the most part, he plays a solid shortstop and has a good arm, although there’s consistency issues. In fact, he could actually be a better shortstop defensively (projection-wise) than Starlin Castro. He could work at 2nd, and in my Cubs fantasy, if Lee can’t force Castro out of short, he takes over in CF.

Chris Carpenter – The Kent State alum was always a highly touted arm, but injuries and durability have been a question mark. He started this year at Peoria, where he dominated, but showed some small control problems. He got bumped up to Daytona, and after doing well, was moved up to Tennessee when Jay Jackson was demoted. He stayed healthy (nothing major) through most of the year. At his best, there’s a fb that tops out in the mid-90’s to go with a strong curve and solid change. A very knowledgeable Cubs fan has made the case that Carpenter has the best starting stuff of the Cubs top 3 pitching prospects (Jay Jackson and Andrew Cashner), and the more I think about it, the more I agree.

Brett Jackson – Cal alumnus was the first round pick of the Cubs this year. While he had a strong year, a lot of people questioned his bat due to the high number of strikeouts in college, and that probably was a big reason as to why such a toolsy OF was selected late in the first. Brett Jackson is what you think of when you ponder a Tim Wilken draft pick. Toolsy, up the middle player. He started off by raking in Boise, and ended the year at Peoria. There was a small injury, nothing serious from what I recall but it’s been a couple months. What I liked was that he showed that he could handle the bat very well. I liked the pick when it was made, largely because I wanted to see more upside in the system, but I admittedly had some questions if this would be another Tyler Colvin. So far, Brett Jackson shows far better potential. That said, he still struck out quite a bit, so more work is needed. At his best, he could hit for above average home run power while stealing some bases and playing a strong CF.

That’s, in my opinion, the Cubs top 7 prospects. There’s other intriguing guys, like power OF Kyler Burke, middle infielders DJ LeMahieu, Logan Watkins, Ryan Flaherty, C Welington Castillo (not a need for you guys and generates a mixed review from Cubs fans, and some intriguing arms, but arms with question marks (like Dae-Eun Rhee, working his way back from injury).