Addison Russell wearing Mark Prior’s old number with Cubs (Photo)

The Chicago Cubs called up another top prospect in Addison Russell who will wear the same number as Mark Prior, so let’s hope his career doesn’t follow the same path.

Four days after the top prospect in MLB, Kris Bryant made his debut with the Chicago Cubs, another top prospect is headed to the big leagues with infielder Addison Russell making his debut on Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

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Russell was a consensus top-five prospect in baseball with some talent evaluators liking him more than Bryant and came to the Cubs in last July’s blockbuster trade involving Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel going to the Oakland Athletics.

The move was a bold one by Oakland general manager Billy Beane to give up his top prospect for two rental pitchers and it backfired after they lost the Wild Card game against the Kansas City Royals in a thrilling 8-9 game. Samardzija was traded in the offseason to the Chicago White Sox and Hammel signed with the Cubs so the A’s clearly lost that trade and it could continue to look worse as Russell begins his career.

He is a shortstop by trade but has played at second base this season with the Iowa Cubs in Triple-A where the Cubs have a need at the position with Arismendy Alcantara struggling mightily at the plate and shortstop locked down by three-time All-Star, Starlin Castro.

Alcantara was optioned to Iowa and Mike Olt was transferred to the 60-day DL to make room for Russell on the 25-man roster and the 40-man roster, respectively. Russell was assigned No. 22, the same number worn by another former top prospect, Mark Prior during his time with the Cubs.

Baseball players are as superstitious as they come and Cubs fans have their own idiosyncrasies that make them the way they are. I would know as a long-time fan, but if you’re panicking at the notion of Russell having the same catastrophic collapse in his brilliant career, then you need to take a few deep breaths and chill out.

Russell will succeed or fail on his own merits and nothing else. The Cubs have put him in a position to succeed and have a talented young nucleus around him to make sure he is comfortable and not feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Scouts rave about his makeup and maturity so he will be fine and hopefully he’ll be able to do what Prior nearly did and help the Cubs get to the World Series and not five outs away.

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