Now that the Cubs’ season came to an unfortunately early end, it’s time to turn our eyes to the Mesa Solar Sox, the Cubs’ affiliate in the Arizona Fall League. The 2026 season started on Saturday and we’ve got a look at the Cubs prospects and how they did over the weekend.
In case you’ve forgotten, or in case you never knew in the first place, the Arizona Fall League is a minor league that starts in early October and goes on for about six weeks. The idea behind it has changed over the years, but today
it mostly serves as a place for minor leaguers whom their team thinks could benefit from some extra games. In the case of the Cubs, at least, this often but not always means players who were injured over the course of the season. Sometimes they’ll send a player to the AFL whom they’re evaluating on whether or not to protect from the Rule 5 Draft. However, sometimes teams will send a top prospect to the AFL because they think they could benefit from working with coaches and teammates from other organizations. For example, the Solar Sox can boast of the Angels’ top prospect Arjun Nimmala on their roster this year.
Also, sometimes players establish themselves as top-tier prospects in the AFL. Last year, catcher Owen Ayers thrust himself into the conversation of the Cubs’ top prospects with a very impressive AFL campaign. He built on that success with a strong 2026 in the minors and he’s now universally considered to be one of the Cubs’ top five prospects after barely scraping the bottom of the Top 30 before his AFL performance.
One piece of bad news, however, is that the Cubs’ second-round pick, Myles Bailey, will not be playing in the AFL. He was originally announced as being on the roster after having not played an official game since he broke his ankle in late March when he was still playing for Florida State. I had hoped to finally see what Bailey could do against professional pitching, but I guess we have to wait until April for that.
So as a quick refresher, there are six AFL teams and their rosters are each made up of player from five different organizations. Every year, Cubs prospects compete for the Mesa Solar Sox, who play their home games at Sloan Park, the Spring Training home of the Cubs in Mesa. The Athletics, who also train in Mesa, also are on the Solar Sox every year as well. The other three teams on the Solar Sox rotate in and out. In addition to the Cubs and A’s, this year’s Solar Sox feature prospects from the Angels, Blue Jays and Red Sox. Last year, the Marlins, Rays and Yankees joined the Cubs and A’s on the Solar Sox.
The Solar Sox are managed this year by South Bend manager Daniel Wasinger.
The Solar Sox have played two games already and went 1-1. The home team is listed last.
October 3: SOLAR SOX 6, Peoria Javelinas 7.
October 4: Javelinas 3, SOLAR SOX 4.
Here are the Cubs minor leaguers in the AFL, a little bit about them and how they did in those two games.
Infielder Juan Cabada. Cabada is the top Cubs prospect on the Solar Sox and is one of the youngest players in the AFL at only 18 years old. Cabada made his US debut in Mesa with the ACL Cubs this past May, where he was sidelined with a lower body injury after just 14 games. (Although they were 14 very good games)
Cabada was out until mid-August, when he came off the IL and was promoted to Low-A Myrtle Beach. Cabada struggled a bit there, but an 18-year-old coming off an injury and competing in Low-A is a tough ask. Still, he wasn’t terrible with a .215 batting average, a .297 on-base percentage and two home runs in just 17 games.
Cabada is a bat-over-glove infielder, but he has a promising offensive profile with good contact skills, solid left-handed power and above-average speed. He should have a good enough glove to be at least a fringe-average defensive second or third baseman. Of course, it’s hard to predict such things on an 18-year-old. He could be better or worse than that.
Cabada played third base in Sunday’s game and he went 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored.
Outfielder Harrison Feinberg: I have to admit that I didn’t remember Feinberg when he was named as Bailey’s replacement on the Solar Sox. Feinberg is a 24-year-old non-drafted free agent that the Cubs signed this summer out of Northeastern. His college numbers suggest he has a little bit of pop in his bat.
In any case, when Feinberg gets into a game with the Solar Sox, he’ll be making his professional debut. He didn’t play this past season or over the weekend.
Outfielder Kade Snell: Snell is an older prospect at 24 after the Cubs drafted him after his senior season at Alabama in the fifth round in 2025. However, it would be a mistake to dismiss Snell because of his age. Snell is a player with good all-around skills. He makes good contact, has an above-average amount of pop in his bat and can steal a base. He was 19 for 21 in stealing with South Bend last year. Defensively he’s a bit stretched in center field, but he’s a solid defensive outfielder at either corner.
Like Cabada, Snell missed a big chunk of the middle of the season with an injury. In Snell’s case, it was a broken wrist suffered after an outfield collision that cost him seven weeks. Snell will be trying to make up for those missed at-bats as well as trying to establish himself as a solid prospect.
Snell played both games over the weekend, one in left field and one in right. He batted leadoff in both games and went 2 for 4 with a walk on Saturday and 1 for 5 on Sunday.
Right-hander Jhon Cabral: The Cubs signed Cabral after the Marlins released him this past June. Cabral is a fireballer who can hit 100 miles per hour with regularity. He also has no idea where the ball is going, which is why the Marlins released him. In the 82.2 innings he’s thrown in his minor league career, he’s struck out 82 and walked 121. But it’s hard to give up on triple digits.
In any case, Cabral didn’t pitch over the weekend.
Right-hander Anhuar Garcia: Garcia didn’t miss time this summer with an injury. Rather, he missed 60 games after a positive PED test last June. However, when he returned to the mound in late-June, he was a pretty solid reliever for the Low-A Pelicans, posting a 2.49 ERA and striking out over 30 percent of the batters he faced. That got him a late promotion to High-A South Bend where he got knocked around a bit in four games, but he was still striking out a batter an inning.
Garcia relieved fellow Cubs prospect Dominick Reid in Saturday’s game and had a rough go of it. Reid allowed four hits, including two hime runs, over just 1.2 innings. That, along with the three walks and no strike outs, led to four runs.
Right-hander Dominick Reid: Reid is unquestionably the best Cubs’ pitching prospect in the AFL this year, having been drafted in the third round out of Abilene Christian in 2025. Reid made his pro debut this year with the Pelicans and made 12 starts before a shoulder issue shut him down. He was out from mid-June until early September, when he was healthy enough to return the the mound and got a promotion to South Bend, where he made one start.
Reid combines a 92-to-94 mile per hour fastball (although he occasionally touches higher) with one of the nastiest changeups in the system.
Reid was the Opening Night starter for the Solar Sox and he absolutely dominated the Javelinas for four innings. Reid allowed a solo home run to Cardinals prospect Tai Peete, but almost nothing else. Reid’s final line was one run on one hit over four innings. He struck out seven and walked just one.
Here are Reid’s seven strikeouts. [VIDEO]
Right-hander Luis Rujano: Rujano was the Cubs’ 13th round pick out of high school in Florida in 2022. This year the reliever bounced around, starting the year in Double-A Knoxville. He struggled there with an 8.61 ERA over 12 games and was sent back down to Mesa. After a short, six-game, reset in the Arizona Complex League, Rujano was sent to South Bend where he still walked too many batters, but struck out more than a batter an inning and held opposing hitters to a .188 batting average over 12 relief appearances. That got him promoted back up to Double-A and he was much better his second time around, putting up a 2.35 ERA over six appearances.
Rujano has yet to make his AFL debut.
That’s it for this week. I’ll be back every Monday through the rest of the six-week season for a regular update of the Cubs and the Boys of Autumn in the Arizona Fall League.
