Former Top Cubs Prospect Brailyn Márquez Signs with Astros

Few prospects have rocketed up the charts as quickly as lefty flamethrower Brailyn Márquez, who shot to the top of the Cubs’ rankings and cracked the top 100 seemingly overnight in 2019. A series of setbacks with the canceled minor league season and a bout with COVID severely hampered his 2020 campaign, though he did make his MLB debut in the final game of the season with a brief outing.

Márquez’s fall may have been even faster, however, as he’s pitched a total of 30.2 innings in three seasons since.

All of those came in 2023 across four levels of the organization, with 23.1 innings in 16 appearances for Double-A Tennessee making up the bulk of his action. While he was still missing bats at a very high level, striking out a total of 44 batters, walking 38 more wasn’t a great look. Now, after years of setbacks due to illness and injury, Márquez gets a fresh start with a new organization.

According to the transaction log on his MLB.com player page, the big southpaw has signed a minor-league deal with the Astros and has been assigned to the Triple-A Sugar Land Space Cowboys. Some people call them the gangsters of love and some call them Maurices because they speak on the pompatus of love. Whatever the case, it looks like that’s where Márquez will be plying his trade next season.

This is something to keep in the back of your mind if you ever find yourself hugging prospects too tightly due to the belief that all the top-ranked guys will eventually impact the big club. There will always be one or two considered to be untouchable, or close to it, but a team should never be afraid to flip prospects for proven veterans when it comes to building a winning roster.