Down on the Farm: Oneri Fleita, VP of Player Personnel

Throughout the season, Vine Line Online will speak with players, managers and front-office personnel in the minor-league system. Today, "Down on the Farm" checks in with Oneri Fleita, Cubs Vice President of Player Personnel, about what he has learned about the system through a month and a half. Keep coming to the blog for reports, player profiles, interviews and stories during the week.

The State of the Farm

Sometimes it is tough for organizations to gage the strengths and weaknesses of their minor-league pools because of how raw the players still may be. For Fleita, this is not the case.

"I feel like for the first time we have some catching depth," Fleita said. "We have Steve Clevenger, who's a converted guy, and he's catching in Double A with Chris Robinson. These are all guys who have caught in the major leagues. Welington Castillo has done a nice job in Daytona and Josh Donaldson in Peoria. That's a nice little piece of depth we have."

Chicago also finds itself with a bevy of talented young third basemen.

"We feel pretty good at third base with [Peoria's] Josh Vitters, Jovan Rosa and Marquez Smith, [pictured Iowa's] Casey McGehee [and Tennessee's] Kyle Reynolds," Fleita said. "That's been another area of strength, third base."

Starting pitching has proven over and over again to be the key to success at the major-league level and Fleita is doing everything he can to ensure the Cubs will develop more starters for the future. Alessandro Maestri and Jose Ceda, for example, have been moved from the bullpen to the Daytona rotation.

"We are really trying to develop as many starters as we can," said Fleita. "So we are taking every good arm and trying to get them into the rotation because to develop a 200-plus-innings pitcher is probably our biggest goal in the minor-league system."