Should Cubs make plans for Hartshorn? Not so fast, Hoyer says

The best development for the Cubs this season probably happened away from Wrigley Field.

Last year's sixth-round draft pick, Josiah Hartshorn, has been a sensation in the minors. Promoted to High-A South Bend a few weeks ago, he has 8 home runs and 28 RBI in just 19 games, with an OPS of 1.284.

Keep in mind, the switch-hitting outfielder-first baseman is 19 years old, one year removed from high school and a professional baseball rookie.

At what point do the Cubs start including Hartshorn in their future plans? After all, this is a team with two corner outfielders heading into free agency (Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki).

“That's a good question,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said Tuesday. “I mean, not yet. He's 19. He's fun to watch, honestly, on a nightly basis. He's been great.”

Another promotion to Double-A seems appropriate, but when? As well as things have gone for Hartshorn, this is still a very small sample size.

“You start talking about what steps he needs to take or what you need to see,” Hoyer said. “But yeah, it's nice. When you have a prospect really break out and do this, it's fun for the whole organization. The scouting department feels great, the player development feels good. Those moments really lift up the organization.”

Why the 6-foot Hartshorn lasted until the sixth round is a complicated story. At Orange Lutheran High School in Southern California, he hit right-handed for most of his career. But when he brought back the left-side swing, he became co-champion of the high school home run derby at Globe Life Field in 2024.

But MLB teams didn't see him as a first-round pick and he was committed to Texas A&M. The Cubs put together a draft plan that got it done. In the first round they took injured Wake Forest outfielder Ethan Conrad as an underslot pick, which meant he'd agree to sign for a smaller bonus than what was slotted at No. 17.

The Cubs could then use that savings on another player later in the draft, and Hartshorn was someone they specifically targeted. The Cubs drafted college players in the second and third rounds to produce more savings, then Hartshorn signed for $2 million, by far the largest bonus of any sixth-rounder.

Hoyer helped formulate the draft strategy, but credit for the execution probably goes to scouting director Dan Kantrovitz.

“Finding a guy that can really hit from both sides is really hard,” Hoyer said. “And I feel like so many switch hitters are kind of small, middle infielders. To have a guy who's controls the zone from both sides, who hits with some power from both sides. Our scouting department, they did a great job on it.”

Maybe it's too early to make any judgments on Hartshorn's future. But when Pete Crow-Armstrong helped lead South Bend to a Midwest League title in 2022, he seemed destined for the majors. Some others who played in South Bend at 19 were Owen Caissie, Moises Ballesteros and Jefferson Rojas. None of them posted numbers like Hartshorn is doing, and hitters who are this good, this young, usually complete the journey.

Between Myrtle Beach and South Bend, 12 of Hartshorn's 13 home runs have come from the left side. As a right-handed hitter, he has an on-base percentage of .500. He's started 23 games in right field, 16 at first base and 15 in center field.

Another prospect moving up the charts is catcher Owen Ayers. He's 25 after playing in college at Marshall, and was a 19th-round pick in '24, but his numbers are interesting. Between South Bend and Double-A Knoxville, Ayers is hitting .325 with 17 home runs and 50 RBI in 55 games. He also has an impressive caught-stealing rate of 33%.

At the moment, MLB Pipeline has Hartshorn ranked the Cubs' No. 7 prospect and Ayers No. 9, but that's likely to change.

As for Conrad, last year's first-round pick, he's still in Arizona recovering from injuries and has yet to see any minor-league action.

“Hopefully end of the month, he can start to work his way into games,” Hoyer said. “It sounds like he's progressing well, and hopefully, in a perfect world, he has a healthy second half.”