Pedro Ramírez surges onto MLB Top 100 after breakout Iowa season

Eight homers and 14 steals in 36 Triple-A games was enough to push Pedro Ramírez onto MLB’s Top 100 Prospects list, and that kind of jump does more than reward a hot month in Iowa. It puts a 22-year-old switch-hitting infielder from Temblador, Venezuela, in the center of Chicago’s infield conversation sooner than anyone could have expected.

Ramírez’s rise came with real production behind it. Through 37 Triple-A games, he hit .313/.387/.573 with nine homers, 14 steals and a .960 OPS over 150 at-bats. MiLB lists him as the Cubs’ No. 3 prospect with a 2026 ETA, and his speed-power blend has become hard to ignore in the International League.

The key stretch arrived on April 22 at Principal Park, when Ramírez exploded for two homers and a career-high eight RBIs in Iowa’s 15-9 win over Louisville. His second shot was a 412-foot grand slam, and the performance lifted his first 21-game line to .333/.396/.678. At that point, his seven homers ranked tied for second in the International League, a fast start that quickly changed the conversation around whether he was simply riding a streak or building a case for a promotion path.

The answer, at least for now, looks closer to proof than illusion. Ramírez was named International League Player of the Month on May 5, and Cubs manager Craig Counsell said Ramírez was “the player that the other players talked about” in spring training and called him a future big leaguer. MLB Pipeline’s profile has long framed him as a hit-over-power infielder with a 35-grade power tool, but the power has shown up earlier and more often than expected, with Ramírez already matching or topping his previous single-season high of eight homers, set in both 2023 at Myrtle Beach and 2025 at Double-A Knoxville.

The timing matters for Chicago. Ramírez signed for $75,000 in January 2021, and his 2025 season at Knoxville featured a .280/.346/.386 line with a career-high 28 steals. Now he has turned that profile into a louder one, one that suggests the Cubs may have an infield option who can force the roster question before the season runs much longer.