Image via Aram Leighton

Watch: Freakishly Hitterish Moises Ballesteros Launches First AFL Homer

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanOctober 14, 2024

Moises Ballesteros has always been a problem for opposing pitchers and he may soon be a problem for the Cubs…in a good way. The stout slugger is listed at 5-foot-8 and 195 pounds, not the typical build for a catcher, but his bat has accelerated his progress to this point. Even though he won’t turn 21 until November, the man known to many as Mo Baller balled out for Double-A Tennessee and Triple-A Iowa this season.

Across the two highest levels of the minors, he slashed .289/.354/.471 with 19 homers and 24 doubles. Wanna know what makes that really wild? Those numbers are better than he put up over three seasons at the lower levels. And before you go saying that’s because he’s older, consider that his rapid ascent through the system means he was more than six years younger than his average opponents at Triple-A.

This cat is on a different level. Very rarely do hitters that young perform as well as Ballesteros did in Iowa, where he posted a 106 wRC+ over 285 plate appearances.

He’s continuing that hot hitting in the Arizona Fall League, where he’s carrying a 1.097 OPS through 17 at-bats. Though the sample is admittedly quite limited, the way Ballesteros is doing it makes you know it’s not a fluke. Sunday saw him hit three balls with triple-digit exit velocities, the biggest of which was a 110.8 mph bomb that traveled 414 feet. In case you’re interested, that’s harder than anything he hit at Iowa (at least in terms of Statcast data).

So how’s he doing it? He’s working to improve weaknesses, like how he had been susceptible to cutters in following fastballs and offspeed away.

“I would look for the pitches I struggle with the most and keep working on that,” Ballesteros told MLB.com’s Sam Dykstra via translator Analies Castro. “Put myself in the mindset of what they would pitch to me first and foremost and get after that.”

The homer above came against righty Josh Stephan (Rangers) on a cutter that ended up over the middle of the plate after Ballesteros had just missed on an outside cutter. He later singled on a two-strike curveball from righty Leandro Lopez (also Rangers), taking the outside pitch the other way.

“I was paying attention to his hand movements as he was getting ready in the glove,” Ballesteros extpained to Dystra. “I noticed that from the previous at-bat, and I made a note for myself. That’s what I was looking at in that pitch.”

It may sound like hyperbole, but I don’t think this kid has anything left to prove in the minors. Thing is, he’s really got nowhere to play in Chicago. He’s still got a lot of work to do behind the plate, first base probably isn’t realistic, and DH will be occupied if Cody Bellinger chooses to stay. That means the Cubs are going to have to make a big trade or two, either to move Mo Baller or to make a little room for him to come up.

The same thing could be said for Matt Shaw and Owen Caissie, among others. That’s the whole “good problem” thing, though it could quickly turn into a bad problem if Jed Hoyer doesn’t time things up well. As fashionable as it’s become to blast the POBO for his decisions, some of which have actually been quite good, timing doesn’t seem to be his strong suit. With the organization approaching an inflection point between needing to compete and needing prospects to contribute, striking the right balance could mean the difference between October baseball and another bullshit apologia from Tom Ricketts.

Selfishly, I want the young guys in Chicago because they’re fun to watch. Mo Baller is right up near the top of the list for me and I am looking forward to the rest of the AFL slate and then spring training, after which his MLB debut should come in short order.

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanOctober 14, 2024
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