Chicago Cubs Top 20 Prospects Countdown: 6 to 10

Today I counting down the bottom half of the Top 10 of my top prospects in thesystem. I really think here is where we start to get a lot of talent. It was clear to me that these five were not as strong as the five featured tomorrow, but in what order they should be was pretty tough. You honestly could rank these five players in any order here and I wouldn argue. It depends on what traits you looking for in a prospect. A quick repeat of my daily disclaimer: This year prospect lists were really difficult to put together because there was no minor league baseball last year. There is always a lot of guesswork in these rankings, but this year I really having to rely on my gut instincts and what other people are saying more than usual. As always, all errors are my fault Moises Alou Jersey.6. Kohl Franklin. Drafted 6th round , Broken Arrow HS .In a recent podcast, Cubs VP Matt Dorey said that Kohl Franklin had ne of the highest upsides in our system.I guess he had to say ne of because the last time I checked, Brailyn Marquez was still in the Cubs system. But the Cubs are really high on Franklin future and it not hard to see why.Franklin comes from a baseball background as his uncle is former All-Star Ryan Franklin and his father pitched several years in the minors as well, including two years in the Cubs system in the early 1990s. He often spoken about how his fatherand his uncle have prepared him mentally for a career in baseball. It was a big reason he felt he could sign out of high school rather than go to college. Franklin has the kind of body that scouts dream about in a pitcher Zach Davies Jersey. He started adding muscle to his long, athletic body in 2019 and reportedly he spent much of 2020 working on nutrition and conditioning. While his fastball sat 88-91 miles per hour in high school, he was throwing 92-95 and touching 97 in 2019. The Cubs feel he still has room to add more velocity and maybe he has over the past year. Franklin best pitch is his sinking, 82-84 mile per hour changeup. Baseball America actually ranks it as the best changeup in the Cubs minor league system. It rare for a pitcher so young to develop a good change. But his curve has also improvedgreatly since entering the system and now projects out to be a strong third pitch. He said he worked on the curve a lot over 2020 and it reportedly looked good at instructs last fall. Franklin made 10 starts for Eugene in 2019 and recorded a 2.31 ERA over 39 innings. He struck out 49 batters in that time, which shows he can get a lot of swings and misses. He pitched one game for South Bend where he allowed no hits over three innings. Unfortunately he had control issues that day which led to five walks and two runs, one of which was earned. That can happen to Franklin when he gets his delivery out of sync