2014 has definitely not been kind to the Chicago Cubs. They have not tried to hide the fact that they are in rebuilding mode and preparing to be contenders in the future. They have a slew of highly-touted prospects in Javier Baez, Arismendy Alcantara and Matt Szczur -- who are already playing in the big leagues.
Outfielder Jorge Soler is the latest Chicago prospect to get called up to the big league club as CSNChicago.com's David Kaplan first reported.
The announcement came after he homered off of Mariners' top pitching prospect Tiajuan Walker. After the three-run shot in the third inning, Soler was removed from the game. He will meet up with the Cubs and is expected to play on Wednesday.
He has quickly moved up the minor league ladder. He started the season in Rookie ball, moved up to Double-A in June, and after tearing it up there, got the call to Triple-A Iowa in late July. Despite being one of the youngest players in all of Triple-A, he still displayed his five tools on a game-to-game basis.
Between all three classifications, he hit .340 with 15 homers along with 57 RBI and a stellar 1.132 OPS. This success is even more impressive considering that he missed most of last season with a fractured tibia.
He didn't miss a beat and it will be interesting to see how he performs in his first taste of The Show. The Cubs signed Soler after he defected from Cuba to a nine-year, $30 million in 2012 and Theo Epstein and the Chicago front office hopes they got a bargain.
Even though Soler has graduated to the MLB, the Cubs still have a loaded heavy-hitting farm system. Kris Bryant, Addison Russell and Albert Almora are the most promising, and they project to be stars in the near future.
Once all these young hitters are playing in Wrigley, they are going to be very fun to look. They might trade a few of them in exchange for some pitching help, but Theo Epstein built a dynasty in Boston, and it appears he is en route to doing the same on the North Side.