Former Cubs Top Prospect Signs With AL Powerhouse

International free agency is a good way for clubs to get some young talent into their organization and develop them using their own resources.

The Chicago Cubs have done a good job of that over the years, finding some promising players and having them climb their farm system to either make their MLB roster or be used in trade packages.

In 2015, they signed Brailyn Marquez out of the Dominican Republic as an international free agent.

He had a meteoric rise within their pipeline and the MLB's overall.

By 2019, he was ranked as the Cubs' No. 3 overall prospect, ahead of their current closer Adbert Azolay, ace Justin Steele and slugger Christopher Morel. In 2020, he cracked the Top-100 in all of baseball, getting ranked as the No. 68 overall prospect.

He was expected to be a major part of Chicago's organization going forward.

Then, everything went south for Marquez starting in 2020.

The minor league season was cancelled due to COVID and he was only able to appear in one game with the Cubs, getting shelled for five runs in less than an inning pitched.

Injuries and illness derailed his career even more as he didn't throw one time during the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

Marquez returned to the mound within Chicago's organization last year, but this time, as a reliever instead of a highly-touted starting pitcher.

He started in rookie ball before ending with their Double-A team. He played across four affiliate teams in total. But, in 16 appearances at Double-A, he recorded an ERA of 6.56 through 23 1/3 innings pitched.

The left-hander decided to hit free agency after the season and ended up signing a minor league deal with the Houston Astros according to his MLB player transactions page.

Marquez is only 24 years old and has an opportunity to resurrect his career within an farm system that has developed solid relief arms at their minor and Major League level.

Whether he ever taps into the potential that was once there is unknown, but he'll attempt to do that with a new organization.