After a blistering start, Moises Ballesteros has hit a rookie wall. Despite a recent slump, elite underlying metrics suggest the Rookie of the Year candidate will soon rebound.
Chicago Cubs designated hitter Moises Ballesteros is trying to find answers at the plate right now. After a strong start, Ballesteros has struggled a bit offensively over the past few weeks.
The 22-year-old began the year with a .387 batting average, five home runs, five doubles, and 16 RBI in his first 25 games. He had a hit in 17 of those 25 contests and had multiple hits in seven of those games.
Unfortunately, Ballesteros has hit a rookie wall following an impressive start. The Cubs designated hitter is in the midst of a rough stretch offensively and looking to break out of this two-week slump.
He has just two hits over his last 36 at-bats (.056 batting average) with one home run, three RBI, four walks, and eight strikeouts since April 28. This stretch has dropped his batting average 122 points from .387 to .265.
There’s no doubt that Ballesteros is lost at the plate right now. He is currently in a 0-for-16 stretch, has not tallied a hit since May 3, and is coming off the first three-strikeout game of his career on Sunday against the Texas Rangers.
However, there should be no concern with Ballesteros’ bat moving forward.
Rookies are going to go through rough stretches at the plate. That was always going to be the case with Ballesteros in his first full Major League season. He wasn’t going to hit around .400 the entire year; that was never a realistic outcome.
But Ballesteros should break out of this mini funk soon and return to being a solid force in Chicago’s lineup. His xwOBA (.335), expected slugging (.446), average exit velocity (90.4 mph), barrel rate (13.8%), hard-hit rate (47.5%), and launch angle sweet-spot rate (40%) all still rank in the top half of the league.
The young hitter is simply too talented not to eventually turn things around offensively. He just has a knack for hitting and continues to be in the running for the National League Rookie of the Year Award.
Ballesteros was fifth in MLB’s updated Rookie of the Year poll. The Cubs rookie received two first-place votes and was behind Konnor Griffin, JJ Wetherholt, Sal Stewart, and Nolan McLean in that poll.
Here’s what MLB.com writer Jason Foster had to say about Ballesteros:
“Ballesteros made noise in his initial callup last season, posting an .868 OPS in 20 games for the Cubs. And like the others, he's back at it this season. The lefty swinger leads all qualified NL rookies with a .500 slugging percentage and an .827 OPS, while his six homers rank third among the group.”
Although Ballesteros is in a rough offensive stretch at the moment, he’ll be just fine moving forward. This regression was always inevitable after a dominant start to the season.