Minor League Musings

[Transmogrified Tiger]

23 minutes ago, Donzo said:

If you want to make that comp then you're saying Ballesteros has the same physical ability as Kirk? Kirk is a good athlete despite his obesity, Ballesteros is not.

The Cubs din't let Ballesteros catch one pitch when he was up with the team. That says a lot about his current catching abilty.

The Cubs had 2 healthy and productive catchers on the roster for the week that he was with the team, he was brought up to be an extra bat and served that purpose for a few days.

Ballesteros may not have what it takes to be an MLB catcher, an unflattering game photo doesn't really indicate anything one way or another.

 

[Donzo]

16 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Did you not watch when he played in Chicago this year? This really isn't that close to Vogelbach or Telles IMO.

That's why I said Vogelbach "path". Did you not see that? 

I saw him in spring, he was smaller then he is now. Not a good trend.

[Donzo]

16 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

The Cubs had 2 healthy and productive catchers on the roster for the week that he was with the team, he was brought up to be an extra bat and served that purpose for a few days.

Ballesteros may not have an unflattering game photo doesn't really indicate anything one way or another.

 

That's right, he wasn't even considered an option at catcher. When the Cubs did need a catcher they ignored Ballesteros. If Ballesteros can't catch in the majors his prospect status is limited.

The picture shows his continued issues with physical fitness. Which is an issue for his prospects as a MLB catcher.

[Jason Ross]

3 hours ago, Donzo said:

That's right, he wasn't even considered an option at catcher. When the Cubs did need a catcher they ignored Ballesteros. If Ballesteros can't catch in the majors his prospect status is limited.

The picture shows his continued issues with physical fitness. Which is an issue for his prospects as a MLB catcher.

It's just a photo. Baseball is an awkward sport, and sometimes guys get in unflattering positions. Moises Ballesteros isn't in any worse shape than he was at any time this season. This just is who he is. 

Defensively, it's fair to wonder, but I think we need to remember that the last time Moises Ballesteros was up, he was 21-years-old. That is the age of a draft-eligible junior. Even if the 1:1 pick was a college junior from the SEC, he wouldn't have been on an MLB roster this fall catching. Adley Rustchman has been, likely seen as the most recent example of a put-togther college catching prospect and he made his debut at age 24. He was drafted at age 21. It is weird we are holding him to near unseen standards. His bat has been so good that he has steamrolled the MiLB, but we can't blame him for it. Catchers take a lot of time. 

He could conceivably not be ready to catch MLB games until 23 and he would still be among the youngest at the position. There has been just a single 21 year old to catch an MLB inning this year; Samuel Basallo. There is only one 22-year-old to log in innings, Edgar Quero. 

I agree that his long term value is dependent on his ability to catch. But him not catching MLB games at age 21 or a funky picture aren't the legs that argument should be standing upon.

[Stratos]

4 hours ago, Donzo said:

If you want to make that comp then you're saying Ballesteros has the same physical ability as Kirk? Kirk is a good athlete despite his obesity, Ballesteros is not.

The Cubs din't let Ballesteros catch one pitch when he was up with the team. That says a lot about his current catching abilty.

Kirk is one of the slowest runners in baseball.

[Bertz]

 

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

One Cub in BA's top 35 DSL prospects: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/top-35-dominican-summer-league-prospects-in-2025/

[Donzo]

On 8/31/2025 at 6:06 PM, Stratos said:

Kirk is one of the slowest runners in baseball.

I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t say he was fast.

[Donzo]

On 8/31/2025 at 5:32 PM, Jason Ross said:

It's just a photo. Baseball is an awkward sport, and sometimes guys get in unflattering positions. Moises Ballesteros isn't in any worse shape than he was at any time this season. This just is who he is. 

Defensively, it's fair to wonder, but I think we need to remember that the last time Moises Ballesteros was up, he was 21-years-old. That is the age of a draft-eligible junior. Even if the 1:1 pick was a college junior from the SEC, he wouldn't have been on an MLB roster this fall catching. Adley Rustchman has been, likely seen as the most recent example of a put-togther college catching prospect and he made his debut at age 24. He was drafted at age 21. It is weird we are holding him to near unseen standards. His bat has been so good that he has steamrolled the MiLB, but we can't blame him for it. Catchers take a lot of time. 

He could conceivably not be ready to catch MLB games until 23 and he would still be among the youngest at the position. There has been just a single 21 year old to catch an MLB inning this year; Samuel Basallo. There is only one 22-year-old to log in innings, Edgar Quero. 

I agree that his long term value is dependent on his ability to catch. But him not catching MLB games at age 21 or a funky picture aren't the legs that argument should be standing upon.

The issue isn’t if he’s bigger than last year. He’s bigger than he was in spring. It was encouraging that he was losing weight and now it’s concerning that he's gaining weight. LIS, he’s shown he’s not a MLB catcher at his current weight and his weight issues limit his prospect status.

If we want to talk age and bring up pictures of Kirk. Kirk was a MLB catcher at 21 and is good defensive catcher. Ballesteros isn’t a MLB catcher at 21 and doesn’t project to be a good defensive catcher in the future.

[Bertz]

15 minutes ago, Donzo said:

The issue isn’t if he’s bigger than last year. He’s bigger than he was in spring. It was encouraging that he was losing weight and now it’s concerning that he's gaining weight. LIS, he’s shown he’s not a MLB catcher at his current weight and his weight issues limit his prospect status.

If we want to talk age and bring up pictures of Kirk. Kirk was a MLB catcher at 21 and is good defensive catcher. Ballesteros isn’t a MLB catcher at 21 and doesn’t project to be a good defensive catcher in the future.

Kirk got 52 innings at 21.  Not even 6 full games.  In the last 10 years, three catchers have gotten meaningful time at catcher as a 21 year old (with a fourth on the way)

- Francisco Alvarez for a Mets team that lost 87 games

- Luis Torrens for a Padres team that lost 91 games

- Tyler Soderstrom for an A's team that lost 112 games (and even this one is a stretch on "meaningful" playing time, it's 15 games)

- Samuel Basallo will likely end up with ~25 games being the plate this year on an Orioles team that loses 85-90 games

Teams just do not trust young catchers to manage an MLB pitching staff at this age unless it's a team playing out the string.  You have to go back 20 years to Mauer/McCann/Molina to find 21 year old catchers playing prominently for contenders.

Ballesteros might not end up being an MLB catcher, but him not getting handed the reigns to the MLB staff this year really isn't part of that calculus.  I also think Jason's point about taking too much off of one picture shouldn't be dismissed, but I'll leave that one be.

[Jason Ross]

1 hour ago, Donzo said:

The issue isn’t if he’s bigger than last year. He’s bigger than he was in spring. It was encouraging that he was losing weight and now it’s concerning that he's gaining weight. LIS, he’s shown he’s not a MLB catcher at his current weight and his weight issues limit his prospect status.

If we want to talk age and bring up pictures of Kirk. Kirk was a MLB catcher at 21 and is good defensive catcher. Ballesteros isn’t a MLB catcher at 21 and doesn’t project to be a good defensive catcher in the future.

You must have a scale of you can definitively say he is bigger than the spring. Can you provide more evidence other than "look at this one photo!"?  We know that camera can make people appear bigger than they are, as well, awkward running photos can distort a body. You're making a lot of claims here and there is a large difference from vibes and proof. If it's the photo thing, I think we should stop making those claims. What we *think* we see is below the burden of proof here, IMO.

On the Kirk thing; Kirk caught 7 games at age 21. Then got sent back for another full Triple-A season at age 22 when he was called up for 40 games at the end of the next season, his aged 22 year. You sure that's the hill we want to die on? 7 games? Using OAA he was not a positive defensive catcher in either 2020, or 2021, grading our poorly in every category except pop time. His first positive defensive grades comes in 2022, his age-23 season. 

So once again, I feel like you're being incredibly harsh because he isn't photogenic. Alejandro Kirk has proven that awkward shapes can be successful, and we know it takes a long time to develop catchers. Ballesteros value does hinge on his defensive ability, but he is not at an age where anything definitive has been said about his defense. Once again, he could not catch an MLB game for another year and a half and he would still make his catching debut prior to Adley Rustchman, who has been seen as the most ready-made college catcher in a decade. 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[allen6510w]

8 hours ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

 

Could happen.  Assuming a typical 14 month recovery,  he could pitch an inning or two during the last week of the 2026 AFL season.   

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[Donzo]

On 9/7/2025 at 11:29 AM, Jason Ross said:

You must have a scale of you can definitively say he is bigger than the spring. Can you provide more evidence other than "look at this one photo!"?  We know that camera can make people appear bigger than they are, as well, awkward running photos can distort a body. You're making a lot of claims here and there is a large difference from vibes and proof. If it's the photo thing, I think we should stop making those claims. What we *think* we see is below the burden of proof here, IMO.

On the Kirk thing; Kirk caught 7 games at age 21. Then got sent back for another full Triple-A season at age 22 when he was called up for 40 games at the end of the next season, his aged 22 year. You sure that's the hill we want to die on? 7 games? Using OAA he was not a positive defensive catcher in either 2020, or 2021, grading our poorly in every category except pop time. His first positive defensive grades comes in 2022, his age-23 season. 

So once again, I feel like you're being incredibly harsh because he isn't photogenic. Alejandro Kirk has proven that awkward shapes can be successful, and we know it takes a long time to develop catchers. Ballesteros value does hinge on his defensive ability, but he is not at an age where anything definitive has been said about his defense. Once again, he could not catch an MLB game for another year and a half and he would still make his catching debut prior to Adley Rustchman, who has been seen as the most ready-made college catcher in a decade. 

Your info is a bunch of gibberish.

 

Brett Taylor and Tommy Birch discussed Ballesteros’s weight loss when spring started. If I remember correctly, Birch said Ballesteros gave up fast food and soda to lose 20lbs. It wasn’t a photo, it was a screen grab of him running. It’s just the way he looks.

Kirk was the starting catcher for Toronto in April 2021 when he was 22. He got hurt at the end of April or the start of May and missed almost three months. Then came back to catch about half the games in August and September… I’ll put up a tombstone for ya on that hill.

How isn’t he photogenic? The screen grab shows exactly what he looks like. It’s not my fault or problem he gained back his weight.

[Jason Ross]

44 minutes ago, Donzo said:

Your info is a bunch of gibberish.

 

Brett Taylor and Tommy Birch discussed Ballesteros’s weight loss when spring started. If I remember correctly, Birch said Ballesteros gave up fast food and soda to lose 20lbs. It wasn’t a photo, it was a screen grab of him running. It’s just the way he looks.

Kirk was the starting catcher for Toronto in April 2021 when he was 22. He got hurt at the end of April or the start of May and missed almost three months. Then came back to catch about half the games in August and September… I’ll put up a tombstone for ya on that hill.

How isn’t he photogenic? The screen grab shows exactly what he looks like. It’s not my fault or problem he gained back his weight.

I'll admit, missed the injury on Kirk! I saw the gamelogs, didn't check the injury history. Will admit my misses. Beyond that, nothing is "gibberish".  His defense was incredibly poor between ages 21 and 22. And he barely played in his age-21 season, he played a whopping 7 games. To date, he's caught 7 more games than Ballesteros has at the MLB level at this age. 7 games.

Secondly, a screen grab is even less good than an actual picture! At least a picture would be a bump up in quality. MiLB streams are on their best of days described as "potato quality" to begin with, when you add in a screen grab it becomes even less in terms of picture fidelity. All of this is because from a random screen grab you think he's too fat? C'mon dude. That's the lowest level stuff. You have to know that, right? 

This is a seriously horrible leg to stand on. Again, there are almost no catchers who catch games at the age of 21. Every year there is like, one maybe if you're lucky, two guys. This year there is two. Last year no catchers aged 21 caught an inning, and only two were 22 (one of whom is Francisco Alvarez, this will be important later). In 2022, only two caught an inning below the age of 23 - and an important note, Francisco Alvarez was a data point in 2023 and the year prior 2022. This means that in the last three seasons, five different catchers in MLB baseball have caught innings below the age of 22; one of whom was Tyler Soderstrom who is not a catcher, and the others are superstar prospects like Carter Jensen, Francisco Alvarez and Samuel Basallo. Do we not yet see what a ridiculous standard you're setting off of a screen grab? 

Again, if you want to worry about his defense, I think there are things you can point to: he's thrown out a shockingly low number of runners this year and it's not because he has bad arm strength but because his footwork is bad. This plays out on balls in the dirt. But he's also 21 and MLB catchers are notorious for taking a long time as evidenced by his contemporaries. Other people his body size have shown recent success in the MLB level. So please, if you want to worry about his defense, make it about things that matter; discuss his footwork, discuss his blocking. Stop taking poor quality screen grabs and making a mountain out of it. It's lazy stuff and you're better than that. I don't mean that in a rude way; I mean it that we are all better than using a screen grab of an MiLB game to make a point. Let's discuss his baseball and not make random assumptions about his weight because a screen grab made him look a specific way. 

Look, here are two more screen grabs from a week ago. The first makes him look much worse than the second and both come from the same HR trot. But again, notice how you can barely make out his face! If this is what we have to say whether or not he will or will not make it as an MLB catcher, than we need to do better.

[Donzo]

9 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

On the Kirk thing; Kirk caught 7 games at age 21. Then got sent back for another full Triple-A season at age 22 when he was called up for 40 games at the end of the next season, his aged 22 year. 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[ILMindState]

1 hour ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

 

I forgot about him, what injury did he have?

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

https://www.thecubreporter.com/comment/287616#comment-287616

[muntjack]

Conrad looks like the bully from an 80's coming-of-age movie. 

[Donzo]

1 hour ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

Ethan Conrad putting on a “wow!” show in BP. 

He launched more than a dozen balls over the RF fence and onto Cubs Way (and beyond) and smoked another off the top of the CF Batter's Eye, and he hammered line drives when he wasn't hitting HR. So plus-HR power combined with hard contact. We're talking a hit tool package not seen in Mesa since Cam Smith this time last year. 

Conrad shows no evidence of the shoulder injury / surgery from six months ago when he is hitting and of course he runs just fine, but he is still not throwing, so maybe expect a move back to 1st base in 2026 (at least until his shoulder is 100% so that he can make long & strong throws from the oufield). Keep in mind that Conrad played 1st base at Marist before he transferred to Wake Forest, so it's not like he would have to learn the position. 

Once he gets going he could move VERY fast through the pipeline (like Matt Shaw and Cam Smith did). 

Conrad looking like the projected 2027 left fielder.