Patrick Mooney of The Athletic<\/a> is reporting that Cubs manager Craig Counsell has told Moises Ballesteros that he will be on the Opening Day roster. This should not come as a surprise as many expected this to be the case. Ballesteros has had an outstanding Spring Training at the plate, posting a .355\/.394\/.613 slash line with two homers, eight RBI, and four runs over 11 games played. He is known for his ability to be an outstnading hitter, and he proved just that this spring.<\/p>\nBallesteros is expected to be the starting designated hitter for Chicago to begin the season. He has played catcher and first base as well in his professional career, so expect him to get some games there. He played a bit last season in the majors and played very little in the field. Ballesteros would play just six innings at catcher and four innings at first base over the course of 20 games. He has a massive bat that keeps him in the lineup as he posted a .868 OPS with two homers, 11 RBI, and 12 runs scored.<\/p>\n
Ballesteros also adds a lefty bat in the middle of the projected lineup for Chicago. With Michael Busch and Pete Crow-Armstrong both also being left-handed hitters, this creates more balance in the lineup. It will be intriguing to see how he does as an everyday option in the majors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Chicago Cubs have some intriguing decisions to make over the next week for their 26-man Opening Day roster. There are some questions about the final few roster spots, but the team made the decision on one of them. With one of the players with a lot of upside set to begin the year with<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":558,"featured_media":152719,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6865,7436,74],"tags":[4897,7564],"class_list":{"0":"post-162919","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-cubs-news","8":"category-chicago-cubs-prospects","9":"category-chicagocubs","10":"tag-chicagocubs","11":"tag-moises-ballesteros"},"yoast_head":"\n
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