Moises Ballesteros gets his chance behind the plate. Despite early struggles, the Cubs see potential for their young slugger to become a part-time catcher.
When the Chicago Cubs released their lineup for Monday’s series opener against the San Diego Padres, there was one thing that really stood out.
Lefty slugger Moises Ballesteros was set to make his first start of the season behind the plate. While Ballesteros’ primary position is catcher, the Cubs have been hesitant to give him opportunities there to begin his Major League career.
He caught only eight innings in the big leagues last year and caught just two innings this season prior to Monday’s game. The Cubs just haven’t needed his services behind the plate with both Carson Kelly and Miguel Amaya rotating at the position.
However, Patrick Mooney of The Athletic reported that the Cubs are expected to give Ballesteros more opportunities behind the plate moving forward. The team believes he has the potential to eventually blossom into a part-time catcher.
“Catching in the major leagues, you got a lot of jobs,” Counsell told reporters in San Diego. “But I’m fully comfortable with him doing it. We’re doing it because we think he can be successful at it.”
Now, Ballesteros’ catching duties are definitely a work in progress. He has not seen many opportunities at catcher in his professional career, and Monday’s start behind the plate showed he is still learning.
The 22-year-old had a few hiccups in his first start at catcher this season.
With the Cubs up 5-4 in the bottom of the third inning, Ballesteros challenged a ball that was clearly outside of the zone. The call on the field stood, and the team had no challenges remaining for the rest of the game.
Losing that ABS challenge was significant because the Cubs could have used it in a critical spot two innings later. Ben Brown appeared to have struck out Ty France looking on a beautiful sinker that would have ended the inning. But the umpire called that pitch a ball, and Brown eventually allowed a two-run single one batter later that put the Padres up 6-5.
Ballesteros wasn't exactly clean behind the plate either. He had a ball get past him in the bottom of the fifth inning and couldn’t cleanly hold onto the ball while trying to throw out Fernando Tatis Jr. from stealing second base one inning later.
But these moments will make Ballesteros a better catcher. He clearly needs more work behind the plate, and it seems like Counsell is willing to give him more starts here moving forward.
How many catcher starts the Cubs are planning to give Ballesteros each week remains to be seen. One thing for certain, though, is that the young hitter deserves to be in the lineup every day.
The rookie is slashing .387/.435/.710 with five home runs, five doubles, and 16 RBI in his first 25 games this season. He hit a towering grand slam in the third inning of Monday’s loss and currently owns a 1.1 WAR through the first month.
His bat needs to be in the lineup every day. That's just how talented Ballesteros is.