Programming note: Marquee Sports Network player development analyst Lance Brozdowski is revealing his Top 30 Chicago Cubs prospects list ahead of Thursday night’s season premiere of “Road to Wrigley Live,” which provides whip-around, commercial-free coverage of every Cubs minor league affiliate.

Today’s list evaluates prospects No. 20 to No. 11.

All good things must come to an end.

The Chicago Cubs’ farm system was atop the baseball world the last two seasons, littered with top-end talent. With the calendar turned to 2025 and more prospect graduations expected, their depth will come into focus this year and next.

That depth, at the moment, is in the form of tool-sy international talents, many of whom are three-plus years away from impact. That puts pressure on the Cubs’ pitching department to reload with top-end talent to mitigate risk at the major league level. Will their approach in the draft this season reflect their organizational weaknesses? It remains to be seen.

In constructing this list, I heavily relied on non-public data, which includes things such as exit velocities, chase and contact rates for hitters, and pitch shapes, velocities, zone and whiff rates for pitchers. I also relied on a mix of sourcing from inside and outside the Cubs’ organization.

The difference between the No. 21 prospect and the No. 11 prospect is small but not as small as No. 30 to No. 21 on my list. Many players in this window project as some kind of major leaguer, even if the ultimate result isn’t impact. And of course, that could change as the season progresses. Development is far from linear.

20. Ben Cowles, 3B

Acquired: From Yankees in 2024 Mark Leiter Jr. trade
Current club: Triple-A Iowa

Cowles has a considerable amount of natural loft in his swing that he combines with average raw power. He also can play multiple positions, which pushes his floor higher, and since he’s a versatile option, he should have some kind of bench impact in either of the next two seasons.

It’s more a floor-over-ceiling profile, but depth is an important aspect of any organization.

19. Pablo Aliendo, C

Acquired: 2018 international class (Venezuela)
Current club: Double-A Knoxville

Catching takes a long time to develop and routinely is underrated from a public perspective in organizations. Even if Aliendo comes in as a slightly below-average defensive backstop with limited exit velocities, he’s one of the better catching prospects in the organization.

He has spent the past two seasons at Double-A and ran into some injuries that slowed his progress, but this is a huge year for the 23-year-old to cement himself as catching depth in the org or he’ll likely be surpassed by players such as Michael Carico, a 2023 fifth-round pick who has missed considerable portions of the last two seasons and is at Single-A Myrtle Beach.

18. Brett Bateman, OF

Acquired: 2023 eighth-round pick (University of Minnesota)
Current club: Double-A Knoxville

Bateman has the lowest chase rate among Cubs minor leaguers, nearly half of the average. This manifests in gaudy walk rates and limited swing-miss. While his swing decisions are supreme, the challenge is combining that with an added layer of explosiveness.

Bateman’s current exit velocities are well below the minor league average, and will need to jump considerably to project even a below-league-average MLB bat. He’s done some bat-speed training this offseason, and the hope is he can change his offensive projection over the next few years to buoy his profile.

17. Ronny Cruz, SS

Acquired: 2024 third-round pick (Miami Christian School, Fla.)
Current club: Rookie-level ACL Cubs

Cruz was an off-the-radar Day 2 pick for the Cubs in last year’s draft. Some public rankings had him far beyond the pick he went, but the Cubs internally have lauded his abilities.

The Cubs have early pro hitters hit off Trajekt, an advanced pitching machine that better replicates MLB stuff. It’s one tool to help them baseline hitter aptitude. Cruz impressed more than first-round pick Cam Smith, whom the Cubs traded to the Houston Astros last offseason in the package for Kyle Tucker. It’s one small anecdote of upside Cruz possesses.

16. Eriandys Ramon, 3B

Acquired: 2023 international class (Cuba)
Current club: Single-A Myrtle Beach

Ramon is a plus defender at the hot corner with arm strength that ranks around the 90th percentile (better than all but 10 percent of minor leaguers). His bat profiles as more contact over power, and his present exit velocity numbers are slightly behind the average for his age and level.

Much of Ramon’s upside connects to how he fills out physically, given the high offensive baseline that third base possesses in Major League Baseball. But the contact, ability to lift the ball and defense are enough for excitement.

15. Jack Neely, RHP

Acquired: From Yankees in 2024 Mark Leiter Jr trade
Current club: Triple-A Iowa

Neely isn’t a starting pitcher, but his slider is good enough to dream on leverage outs, which makes his inclusion inside the top 20 justified in an organization weak in pitching depth.

He changed the grip on his slider with the Yankees last offseason, and the pitch took off from there. It had a 54 percent swing-miss rate in the minors last season with near-50 percent usage. The average slider in MLB generates just 33 percent swing-miss. He’s also big, with a steep downhill plane, not unlike current Cubs starter Ben Brown, and he sits 95.5 mph on his fastball.

The Cubs hope Neely, who made six appearances in the majors last year, is their future closer. The question for me is, how much can he throw the slider and not walk the world? His fastball, despite its velocity, continually has played down.

14. Christian Franklin, OF

Acquired: 2021 fourth-round pick (University of Arkansas) 
Current club: Triple-A Iowa

Franklin seemingly has been a high-OBP hitter since the day he was born. He just hasn’t logged over 100 games played in a season because of a variety of injuries throughout his time with the Cubs.

Franklin had the second-lowest chase rate among Cubs minor leaguers last season. Mix that with his strong exit velocity numbers, and there’s a chance for a league-average bat in MLB with average corner outfield defense.

13. Jonathon Long, 1B

Acquired: 2023 ninth-round pick (Long Beach State)
Current club: Triple-A Iowa

Long is a good hitter. Everything he does, from swing decisions to lifting the ball to hitting it hard, are better than the minor league average.

The issue is a simple one — right-handed-hitting first-base prospects routinely are underrated. It’s a profile that has such a high baseline of offensive talent at the major league level, many minor league mashers just don’t compare. Maybe Long — who has a swing that always reminds me of Rhys Hoskins — is different.

Long is at Triple-A to start this season, and while there’s no clear path to an MLB role, the only thing he can do is perform and force the Cubs’ hand.

12. Gage Workman, 3B

Acquired: 2024 Rule 5 Draft from Tigers
Current club: Chicago Cubs (3-for-11 with two RBI in seven games)

Workman is a strapping 6-foot-4 and moves in the field like a materially smaller player. He’s smooth, with strong footwork and spider-web hands, feasibly can play any position that isn’t center field at an above-average level. He stopped switch-hitting a year ago — he’s just a lefty now — and his results took a jump forward.

There’s still probably too much swing-miss to project offensive production 10 percent above the league average, but if he can rise to slightly below average to average against MLB pitching — which he’s seeing now — he’ll be a valuable, versatile piece to any team.

11. Nazier Mule, RHP

Acquired: 2022 four-round pick (Passaic County Technical Institute, N.J.)
Current club: Single-A Myrtle Beach

Mule sat at 94.7 mph on his fastball last season and occasionally mixed a slider and a changeup. Last season was his first off Tommy John surgery, after eliminating his development as a two-way player, and he struggled mightily to zone anything once he got to Myrtle Beach.

Mule’s raw talent still is exciting enough to place him this high and hope for a jump in profile early this season.

Coming Thursday: No. 10 to No. 1 Cubs prospects