Brett Jackson Will Make His Cubs Debut In 2012, But When?
Though the new regime won’t exactly admit it by using the word, the Cubs are in an almost complete rebuild right now, not just of the Major League roster, but of the entire organization.
They’ve scrapped the method of simply going after high priced free agents, a la Prince Fielder, instead choosing to go with cheaper guys with high upside. This has also created a big buzz around several of the younger players in Chicago’s system, as many have begun to wonder when we might see some of these young names that we’ve heard so much about over the past couple of seasons.
One of those names is Brett Jackson, considered by many to be the top prospect in the organization. Together, he and Anthony Rizzo provide the Cubs with two of the more exciting positional prospects in all of baseball.
Many had pegged Jackson for a September callup, given the state of the team as the days remaining in the 2011 season waned, but the 23-year-old out of Cal Berkeley has yet to make his debut for the big club.
Jackson began the year in Double-A before making the jump up to Iowa and playing 48 games with the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate.
Between the two, Jackson hit .274, knocking in 58 runs, and striking out 138 times. But when comparing his numbers between the different levels, Jackson actually performed better with the Iowa Cubs.
In his 48 games in Iowa, Jackson hit .297, with 10 home runs and 26 knocked in. He added six swipes in those contests, to go along with his .388 on-base percentage and OPS well over .900. He’s also an above average fielder as well, demonstrating that he’s a solid player in all aspects of the game, just like Theo Epstein likes his guys on the field.
The biggest question surrounding Jackson is not if he’ll make it to the big leagues, but when? As of right now, there’s a bit of a logjam in the outfield. Alfonso Soriano, Marlon Byrd, and David DeJesus are likely to make up the team’s Opening Day outfield, unless one of them is traded, which is a very likely scenario.
Beyond the three, you have the likes of Tony Campana and Reed Johnson, though bench players have little bearing over whether or not Jackson plays, since the team isn’t going to call him up to not play him.
The Cubs aren’t going to rush Jackson, and that’s the right move. His situation is similar to that of Anthony Rizzo. Both are expected to start the year in Triple-A, pending a great performance in spring training, but both are expected to appear in Chicago in 2012.
Jackson is an athlete. He’s a big kid, standing 6’2″ and weighing a touch over 200 pounds. He’s a well-rounded guy and very athletic. The skills are there. But he just needs that extra little bit of sharpening before reaching the bigs. I’d put his ETA somewhere around this summer, but a lot of it will depend on whether or not the likes of Soriano or Byrd are around by the time Opening Day 2012 rolls around.
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