Chicago Cubs top prospect Moises Ballesteros came into Mesa late, held up with visa issues from his native Venezuela for 10 crucial early spring training days. It was an especially tough development since the team wanted to have him focus on his catching this spring and work on building a rapport with the pitchers.
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The 22-year-old is expected to make the Opening Day roster as a bat-first DH, but becoming a viable backup to catchers Carson Kelly and Miguel Amaya would be huge for a Cubs team that prioritizes depth and roster flexibility.
By all accounts, he’s caught up to speed and is actually exceeding expectations, especially at catcher, where he’s surprised some observers who had previously envisioned him as a below-average receiver. New Cubs pitcher Edward Cabrera recently praised him for his keen eye behind the plate and his ability to help guide him through his outing.
Ballesteros is also not disappointing with the bat, hitting .294 after just 18 plate appearances with 6 RBIs in his abbreviated spring.
All in all, people are excited about what the Cubs’ 2023 and 2024 Minor League Player of the Year can do in a full season after posting a .298 batting average in 66 plate appearances with the major league team last season.
Rival scout raves about Ballesteros upside
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In a recent interview with the Mully & Haugh Show on 104.3 The Score, Cubs beat reporter Bruce Levine shared a rival scout’s glowing assessment of the squat, 5-foot-8 unlikely top prospect.
“I was talking to a scout who has watched him since he came into major league baseball,” Levine asserted. “He said…don’t worry about his weight as much as look at him as the baseball athlete he is at this weight. Make sure that the dietary part is good, but don’t ask this guy to lose 20 or 25 pounds, you might lose the pop in his bat if you do that…He’s a believer in Ballesteros and, like me, he believes he’s going to be a middle of the order hitter very soon. He said anywhere from fourth to sixth is where Counsell is going to hit him most of the time. He just believes he’s going to be an RBI machine.”
Another Alejandro Kirk?
The unnamed scout also went on to praise Ballesteros as an overall player, comparing him to Alejandro Kirk of the Toronto Blue Jays, who is similarly 5-foot-8 and is actually listed as 50 lbs. heavier.
“It was good to hear from someone outside the organization who thinks not only is he going to be an outstanding hitter, but that he’s going to be a better catcher,” Levine said. “And he brought up Kirk as the idea from the Toronto Blue Jays…Not the greatest body in the world, but he’s turned out to be an outstanding catcher even at a big size.”
For now, the plan with Ballesteros seems to be to DH him against mostly right-handed pitching and slot him in as the team’s emergency catcher. He can also play some first base and might see some time there as a backup to Michael Busch.
But, make no mistake about it, Ballesteros will be with the Cubs for his bat and everyone’s waiting to see how well he does there.
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