The Chicago Cubs traded pitching prospect Jackson Ferris, along with Zyhir Hope to the Los Angeles Dodgers in January of 2024 for Michael Busch and Yency Almonte.
It was a deal that many knowledgeable baseball people openly questioned as the left-handed Ferris was a very well-regarded prospect in the Cubs farm system.
As things sit right now, however, it has to be seen that the Cubs got the best of the trade. Busch performed well in his rookie season, earning some Rookie of the Year attention, as Chicago’s first baseman and the possible long-term solution to the organization’s dearth of first base talent.
That “who won the trade” assessment may change in the future as Ferris continues to develop as a pitcher.
Jackson Ferris Is/Was A Top Prospect
The 20-year-old southpaw prospect continued to thrive in the Dodgers’ system in 2024, earning a promotion from High-A to Double-A and going on to win the Dodgers’ Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year award. He’s also earned recognition as the fifth best left-handed pitching prospect, per MLB.com, and no. 78 on the Top 100 prospects list.
In a recent interview, Ferris compared the Dodgers’ coaching staff to the Cubs’ staff. It wasn’t a favorable comparison for the Cubs.
Ferris Rates Dodgers Coaching Over Chicago Cubs Coaching
“I just feel like coaching is a big thing,” Ferris said. “You wouldn’t expect coaching to be too different in the Minor Leagues or big leagues with the teams, but it is a big difference. When I first got traded over to the Dodgers, just kind of critique and fine-tuning little things with my mechanics even though I was younger.
“Which the Cubs didn’t want to mess with, since I was young. Now that we got to fine-tune some of those things, it really let me take off throughout the year.”
“Last year with the Cubs, they taught me a big slider,” Ferris added. “So like a sweeping slider. [Last] year in Spring Training, the Dodgers kind of banged that and just went to this harder, bullet slider. It’s easier to control, easier to throw to righties and lefties. Whereas the sweeping slider is more for predominantly lefties only.”
This back-handed semi-slap from Ferris comes on the heels of a critical piece in Baseball America where big league scouts polled anonymously rated the Cubs as one of the worst at recognizing talent.
A Valid Point?
The Dodgers do, however, have a tremendous reputation for developing pitchers and the Cubs, while getting high marks for their farm system, don’t have that same track record when it comes to creating high-end major league starters. Aside from Justin Steele and, arguably, Javier Assad, the Cubs system hasn’t recently produced homegrown starting pitching talent.
That may change in the near future as Chicago has pitching prospects like Cade Horton, Ben Brown, and a few others waiting on their opportunity in the majors.
At one time, Ferris was considered one of those future high-end rotation pieces for the Cubs.
The 6-foot-4 lefty began his high school career at Mount Airy High School in North Carolina before transferring to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, to gain increased exposure. During his junior year at IMG, he delivered an 8–0 record with a 0.55 ERA, striking out 86 batters in 51 innings. His senior year further solidified his status as a top prospect, leading to his selection by Chicago in the second round (47th overall) of the 2022 MLB Draft. He signed with the Cubs for a bonus of $3,005,000 rather than move on to college ball.
Currently…apparently…he’s quite happy with the Dodgers.
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