Sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. The Cubs have been playing subpar baseball for the past two months, which has them in last place in the NL Central heading into Wednesday night’s game against the Giants. Who knows how aggressive Jed Hoyer will be with the makeup of his current roster, but there’s one prospect who continues to make a strong push for an MLB call up and his name is Moises Ballesteros.
The 20-year-old catching prospect was promoted to Triple-A Iowa a week ago and the left-handed batter hasn’t stopped hitting after putting up great numbers at Double-A. On Wednesday, Ballesteros recorded his fourth multi-hit effort in his seventh game with the Iowa Cubs. He finished 2-for-4, driving in a run with a double off the right-field wall and reached base a third time via a walk.
Ballesteros is now slashing .393/.414/.643, in his first week of games at Triple-A. He’s 11-for-28 at the plate with four doubles and a home run.
All this guy does is hit. Ballesteros began the 2024 minor league season at Double-A with the Tennessee Smokies and as a 20-year-old he was out-shining his peers. He played in 56 games at Double-A, where he slashed .299/.372/.495 in 223 plate appearances.
Even at a young age Ballesteros has consistently shown the ability to have good plate discipline. He hits for average, takes his walks and strikes out below 20% of the time, while also hitting for more power as he progresses through the farm system.
2021: 48 Games, .266/.396/.390, 12.8 K%, 16.6 BB%
2022: 63 Games, 257/.351/.461, 19.7 K%, 13 BB%
2023: 117 Games, .285/.374/.449, 15.8 K%, 12.8 BB%
2024: 63 Games, .311/.377/.514, 15.5 K%, 9.3 BB%
Since May 1, the Cubs as a team have posted a 91 wRC+, which ranks 23rd in MLB and are only averaging 3.64 runs per game in their last 50 contests. Is it premature to call up a 20-year-old prospect who doesn’t really have an advanced technique at the catcher position? Maybe, but his bat looks legit and the Cubs need something, anything different because whatever they’ve been trotting out for the past two months has not been working.
This isn’t to say that calling up Ballesteros will magically fix everything, but making an aggressive move like that could give the rest of the lineup a boost. Get his bat as the designated hitter and maybe he gets a start or two behind the plate every 10 games or so. Try something new. Be bold. Have some urgency because another season is slipping away from the Cubs.
Maybe Ballesteros won’t be the savior, but he can be the catalyst that the lineup needs this summer.
