Cubs promote Addison Russell to majors

The future is now on the north side of Chicago. According to a report from Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com, the Cubs will promote top prospect Addison Russell to the majors on Tuesday.

Although he developed as a shortstop in the minor leagues, Russell will break into the majors as a second baseman for Chicago. The Cubs have relied on Tommy La Stella, Arismendy Alcantara and Jonathan Herrera at the position so far this season, though their lack of production allowed for the promotion of Russell, who has been playing second all week at Triple-A Iowa.

Russell, 21, will join fellow top prospect Kris Bryant on the team's major-league roster, with other young guns such as Jorge Soler and Alcantara already in the big leagues. Baseball America ranked Russell as the third best prospect in all of baseball behind the season, slating him behind Bryant (first overall) and ahead of Cubs' teammates Soler (12th), Kyle Schwarber (19th), C.J. Edwards (38th), and Billy McKinney (83rd).

Russell, the Athletics' first-rounder (11th overall) in the 2012 draft, was traded to the Cubs as part of the Jeff Samardzija-Jason Hammel blockbuster last summer, adding to the Cubs' stable of young talent in what many considered a shocking move. He is a career .300/.376/.519 hitter with 38 home runs in parts of four minor-league seasons, and hit .297/.308/.432 with a homer and 7 RBI in nine games with Iowa so far this season.