The Chicago Cubs may have a Solution to their Catching Problem

Chicago Cubs prospect Moisés Ballesteros could be knocking his way onto the MLB Roster

The Chicago Cubs are looking to “turn the page” this coming offseason by being one of the more active teams. Coming into the offseason the Chicago Cubs have 3 holes they need to plug, one of which is them needing to solidify the catching position.

The Chicago Cubs last full time solid catcher that produced was Willson Contreras, who they lost to free agency to their division rival St. Louis Cardinals. Since that time it has been a revolving door between names like Yan Gomes, Christian Bethancourt, Tomás Nido, and Miguel Amaya.

With the Chicago Cubs ranking near the bottom for all catching categories they will need a major shakeup to have better defensive and offensive numbers from the catching position. Amaya who as of now is set to be the team’s everyday option will need to make major improvements to his game both offensive and defensively in order to retain that spot.

According to his Baseball Savant page Amaya ranks in the 16th percentile (which is low) for both caught stealing and framing, and the 4th percentile for pop time. He did however rank in the 98th percentile (which is considered the top) for blocking. His offensive numbers are sadly nothing to highlight either.

The Chicago Cubs however may have an internal solution to their catching problems. Top catching prospect Moisés Ballesteros, who was invited to the AFL this season, has been tearing it up. In just 10 games and 46 ABs (51 PA) he has 18 hits, 3 doubles, 4 HRs, 11 RBI, 4 BBs, and a slash line of .391/.431/.717/1.149.

Ballesteros, who is the Chicago Cubs #4 prospect is making it hard for the organization to not at least give him a spring training invite. The knock on Ballesteros is his defensive and how well will he be able to handle a pitching staff. According to his Baseball Savant scouting report his fielding grades at a 45 (below average) and his arm is average.

This is an area that needs major improvement, but his bat grades out at a 60 out of 80, which plays. The Chicago Cubs could find a stopgap in a Danny Jansen who is a free agent and they’ve been linked to, however sometimes you need to take a risk and this is one of those risk.

Between two levels last season (72 games) Ballesteros had a fielding % of .990 which is good. Also with Cody Bellinger possibly leaning towards opting out Ballesteros could be a cheap and high reward replacement also being able to play 1st base.

It remains to be seen what the future holds for Ballesteros, but one thing remains, if he continues to tear it up like he is in the AFL and then bring that to spring training you could be seeing him on debut on the Southside next year.