Where Are They Now? 2011 Pro Debut Part 4

Last year I began a new series of posts giving an update on Cubs prospects that appeared in Pro Debut during its inaugural 2010 season. Three years seemed like a pretty good amount of time to follow up. With the release of the 2014 set, I restarted the series a few Sundays ago with players from 2011.

Previous entries can be seen here:

Part 1 (Hak-Ju Lee and Brandon Guyer) can be seen here.

Part 2 (Reggie Golden and Hunter Ackerman) can be seen here.
Part 3 (Aaron Kurcz and Austin Reed) can be seen here.

2011 Topps Pro Debut #216 Elliot Soto

Elliot Soto was drafted out of high school in the 13th round of the 2007 draft by the Minnesota Twins. He passed and ended up going to college at Creighton University and re-entered the draft in 2010 where the Cubs drafted him in the 15th round.

He made his "pro debut" later that year which is why he gets the foil stamp in the upper right corner of his card. Each year since, he has played for multiple teams but he hasn't been able to make it past Double A yet. 

After last season, it was announced that Soto would begin this season suspended for a second violation of the minor league drug program. As of this writing, he's gotten into 33 games with the Tennessee Smokies (mostly at shortstop) but that is where I've heard Addison Russell from the Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel trade will end up. With a logjam of middle infield prospects the Cubs are collecting, Soto will likely be squeezed out somewhere. 

2011 Topps Pro Debut #246 DJ LeMahieu

D.J. LeMahieu was a part of the 2010 Pro Debut set and you can see my quick write up on his career up through last year here. Since being recalled from Triple A in May 2013, LeMahieu has been the everyday second baseman for the Rockies. He finished last season playing in a career high 109 games, and is on pace to surpass that this year.

Funny enough, LeMahieu is shown on this card with the Daytona Cubs, the Chicago Cubs high Single A affiliate where he spent the entire 2010 season. By the time this set was released though, LeMahieu had playedin Double A (Tennessee Smokies), Triple A (Iowa Cubs) and made his Major League debut on May 30, 2011. I wouldn't swear by it, but he may have been the first one from this set to make his MLB debut.

He even showed up in the flagship Update Series.

2011 Topps #US205 D.J. LeMahieu

Where Are They Now? 2010 Pro Debut Part 2

Last week I debuted a new mini-series of posts featuring a look back at the "future Cubs" that were in 2010 Topps Pro Debut and seeing where they are now. Today I'm back with part 2, featuring D.J. LeMahieu and Brooks Raley.

D.J. LeMahieu was originally drafted in the 41st round of the 2007 draft by the Detroit Tigers out of high school. Passing on that to go to Louisiana State University seems to have worked out for him as two years later in 2009, LeMahieu was selected in the second round by the Cubs. Drafted ahead of him by the Cubs in first round? One of last week's subjects, Brett Jackson.

LeMahieu is shown on the card with the AZL Cubs, where he spent a grand total of 3 games in 2009. In those three games, he went 5-12 with 4 RBIs and was bumped up to Single A Peoria Chiefs where he finished the season. He continued to progress, spending 2010 with the Daytona Cubs before making big jumps in 2011. LeMahieu played for Double A Tennessee, Triple A Iowa and had two stints with the big league Cubs.

Over 37 games, he gave Darwin Barney rests at second and Aramis Ramirez at third. He batted a respectable .250 but after the season ended, he was packaged up with Tyler Colvin and shipped to the Colorado Rockies for Casey Weathers and Ian Stewart.

In 2012 and 2013, LeMahieu has split time between the Rockies and their Triple A affiliate, Colorado Springs Sky Sox. He has played first, second, third and shortstop but is currently the Rockies everyday second baseman. The Rockies definitely got the better end of this deal.

The card was signed back when he was still with the Iowa Cubs.

A few rounds after Jackson and LeMahieu were drafted in 2009, in the 6th to be exact, the Cubs selected Brooks Raley out of Texas A&M University. He too made his way up the ranks, AZL Cubs and and Boise Hawks in 2009, Daytona Cubs in 2010 and the Tennessee Smokies in 2011. In 2012, Raley played in Tennessee, moved up to Iowa and also made his Major League debut with the Cubs on August 7.

That didn't go as planned as he gave up 7 runs in four innings to the San Diego Padres. He took the loss in his second start as well, but lowered his ERA from 15.75 to 9.00 by only giving up a more respectable 3 runs in 6 innings. He finished the 2012 season with 5 starts, a 1-2 record and a 8.14 ERA. It didn't look good for 2013.

He's currently leading the Iowa Cubs in games started and innings pitched but has an 8-9 record and a 4.15 ERA. He did get a brief call up in July and finished a 13-2 blowout loss at the hands of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He only gave up two of those runs over the final 4.1 innings of the game, so that's an improvement.

He's scheduled to start this afternoon's game in Iowa against the Memphis Redbirds. Good luck, Brooks!