| Josh Vitters will soon be diving for balls at the highest level. (Getty Images) |
The future is taking shape in Chicago, as the Cubs have called up top prospects Brett Jackson and Josh Vitters, tweets MLB.com's Carrie Muskat. Jackson and Vitters will join the big-league club in Los Angeles.
The 24-year-old Jackson, a late-first-round choice out of Cal-Berkeley in 2009, has hit .256/.338/.479 for Triple-A Iowa this season. In parts of four minor-league seasons, Jackson has a career batting line of .282/.379/.488 with 91 steals. Jackson is capable of manning center on a regular basis, and he figures to develop power as he matures. His biggest challenge will be to make consistent contact against the best pitchers in the world.
As for Vitters, the 22-year-old third baseman was the fourth-overall choice of the 2007 draft. This season, he's enjoyed his strongest campaign to date: .304/.356/.513 with 17 homers and 32 doubles in 110 games for Triple-A Iowa. Vitters has improved defensively to the point that he should be able to stick at the hot corner long-term. But will he be able to recognize and handle major-league breaking stuff?
Coming into this season, Jackson ranked 38th on Matt Snyder's consensus prospect rankings, while Vitters didn't appear in the top 60.
For more baseball news, rumors and analysis, follow @EyeOnBaseball on Twitter, subscribe to the RSS feed and "like" us on Facebook.