How Chicago Cubs’ purging of stars has stocked Myrtle Beach Pelicans with prospects

The Chicago Cubs’ front office purged the team of many of its stars over seven months in 2020-21, and the Myrtle Beach Pelicans are a beneficiary.

The 2022 Pelicans feature four young prospects acquired by their parent club in high-profile trades, as the team tried to stockpile young talent by dealing Javy Baez, Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Yu Darvish, Craig Kimbrel and others.

They will be among the players to watch this season, which began Friday and moved to Pelicans Ballpark on Tuesday for a home opener that featured a boisterous sellout crowd of 6,599.

One of those prospects, outfielder Kevin Alcantara, who was acquired from the New York Yankees in the Rizzo trade, lined a game-winning RBI single to left-center field in the 12th inning Tuesday to give Myrtle Beach a 2-1 win over the Augusta GreenJackets (2-2).

Tuesday’s game was the first April contest at Pelicans Ballpark since 2019, as the 2020 season was wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic and the start of the 2021 season was pushed back to May.

The Pelicans’ top prospects

In addition to Alcantara, Pelicans outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong was acquired from the New York Mets for Baez and pitcher Trevor Williams,, and shortstop Reggie Preciado and second baseman Yeison Santana were acquired in the Darvish deal with the San Diego Padres.

Myrtle Beach features three of the Cubs’ top prospects according to MLB Pipeline.

Third baseman James Triantos, 19, is the No. 3 prospect in the organization. He is in his first full year of professional baseball out of high school and was a second round draft pick (56th overall) last year.

Crow-Armstrong, also just 19, was the 19th overall selection in the 2020 draft but that season was canceled and he played in just six games last year (batting .417) before suffering a season-ending torn shoulder labrum. Preciado is the organization’s No. 11 prospect.

Players with ties to the Carolinas include pitcher Sheldon Reed of Bradley, who played at Clemson in 2019, and pitcher Luke Little of Charlotte, N.C., who was drafted by the Cubs in the fourth round in 2020.

“These are a bunch of young pups, most of them high school or just coming out of college,” Pelicans manager Buddy Bailey said. “The roots are the most important [thing] in any business, and hopefully with my experience and with the coaching staff’s assistance we can instill the right things and nurture along those roots so the guy keeps going and bears fruit down the road, which means he’s in the big leagues.”

The Pelicans are an experienced Class Low-A squad, as 20 players were on the Myrtle Beach roster last season, including outfielder Jacob Wetzel, who led the team with 45 RBI in 86 games, and 13 of the team’s 17 pitchers.

Minor league baseball dropped 42 teams in a consolidation in 2020, so the 120 remaining teams are presumably deeper with more talent and competition for starting positions, though rosters were expanded from 25 to 30 players in 2021.

“It just depends on how the scouting department has done things and who they signed,” Bailey said.

Early-season success

Myrtle Beach is off to a 2-2 start after dropping two of three to start the season at the defending league champion Charleston RiverDogs. The Pelicans went 59-61 last season and did not make an abbreviated playoffs in Low-A East, which has been renamed the Carolina League for 2022.

“I hope we have a little bit better team than we had last year, better players, but time will tell that,” Bailey said.

The Pelicans are managed by one of the best in the business.

Bailey is in his 34th year as a minor league manager and fifth with the Pelicans, and leads all active minor league skippers in wins with 2,204, which is fourth all-time.

The Riptydz Rally Deck down the left field line has been added this year to the park’s many amenities that led to it being rated the No. 1 minor league ballpark experience by Stadium Journey in 2021. The deck features a bar and high-top tables and chairs.

There are no restrictions or COVID policies for fans this season.

This story was originally published April 13, 2022 at 7:00 AM.