The future has fully arrived for the Chicago Cubs. Less than one week after Kris Bryant's arrival on the north side, Addison Russell will be joining him, per CBS Sports' Jon Heyman.
Manager Joe Maddon revealed that Russell will bat ninth in his Cubs debut, via Matt Spiegel of 670 AM in Chicago. The team announced the full lineup:
Russell joined the Cubs last year in the trade that saw Jason Hammel and Jeff Samardzija move to the Oakland Athletics. The 21-year-old is considered one of the most highly touted prospects in baseball. Going into the season, he ranked No. 2 on Baseball Prospectus, No. 3 in Baseball America and on FanGraphs and No. 5 on MLB.com.
Baseball America's Ben Badler ventures that Cubs games should be must-watch television for MLB fans:
He began 2015 with the Iowa Cubs in the Pacific Coast League. In 39 plate appearances, Russell hit .297 with one home run and seven runs batted in. In 242 minor league games since 2012, he's a .300 hitter with 38 homers, 157 RBI and 43 stolen bases.
Although Russell is considered a shortstop, Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times believes he will play second base for the Cubs, since Starlin Castro currently occupies short:
Rany Jazayerli of Grantland was a bit surprised with the timing of Russell's call-up:
FanGraphs' David Cameron noted that it's open season for prospects with the service-date deadline out of the way:
Although Russell appears to be a can't-miss star, he'll likely experience some growing pains early on at Wrigley Field. With that said, he should be an upgrade at second over Arismendy Alcantara and Tommy La Stella.
Russell's promotion alone won't put Chicago in the playoffs this year, but it certainly shouldn't hurt the Cubs' chances.
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