Keeping Up With Cubs Prospects In The Arizona Fall League: Week Two

[RandallPnkFloyd]

After a day off last Monday, the Chicago Cubs contingent of Arizona Fall League prospects was back at it with the Mesa Solar Sox. While the record for the Sox wasn’t terrific, we saw some positive developments from the North Side representatives. Even more encouraging is that the trend extends beyond Moises Ballesteros. 

Let’s talk about Moises Ballesteros first, though. The organization’s top prospect behind the dish had a big week for the Solar Sox. He started with a pair of hits and a walk on Tuesday, keying a 15-2 Mesa win over Scottsdale. He followed that up with another two knocks on Wednesday, including his second homer of the fall slate. His other hit was a double. He followed up a day off on Thursday with two more hits on Friday. 

Ballesteros is hitting .419 with a .457 on-base percentage across 31 fall at-bats. He remains dead even in strikeouts to walks, with three each. Four of his 13 hits have been of the extra base variety, with two homers and two doubles to date. He’s been excellent while simultaneously putting in the work behind the plate that appears to be helping him with the bat. It doesn’t look like the fall season will do anything to curb our excitement over his potential.

However, Ballesteros’ prowess at the plate wasn’t the only offensive highlight for the Cubs’ representatives on the Mesa roster. Ben Cowles had a nice week after a tough start in the desert. He turned in a three-hit effort to open the week on Tuesday, featuring a walk and a trio of runs knocked in, largely courtesy of two doubles. He added two more hits across five at-bats on Thursday with another RBI. However, Saturday was perhaps the most encouraging start for Cowles, as he went 0-for-1 with three free passes. He has an average of .222 and an OBP up to .344 in 27 AFL at-bats. A far cry from where he stood after week one. 

Flipping back to he’s-been-good-since-the-jump side of the spectrum: Jonathon Long. After going just 1-for-5 on Wednesday, Long recorded three hits against Salt River on Thursday, one of which was a double. He homered on Friday to give him two in the AFL. Long’s at a .333/.375/.600/.975 line thus far.

Overall, it was a really nice week for the offensive prospects the Cubs sent down. We saw some power, some approach, and some timely hitting. What more could we want? 

Up on the bump, Sam Thoresen was the first Cub to appear this week. He threw a scoreless ninth inning on Tuesday. Vince Reilly followed him up with a save on Wednesday, throwing a perfect ninth against Peoria that included a strikeout. 

After a Cub-free Thursday, we saw Grant Kipp & Shane Marshall on Friday. The results were…not as terrific. Kipp was a bit uneven in his start, allowing four runs across three innings of work, with a home run allowed and a lot of quality contact against. Marshall’s outing was much more concerning, however. He worked through one inning and gave up six hits, including a pair of home runs and five runs overall. His fall ERA stands at 27.00 after a string of laborsome appearances. Thoresen book-ended the week for the Solar Sox on Saturday but was hit with the loss after allowing two hits and two walks in a walk-off loss. 

Ultimately, it was a much more encouraging week from the offensive representatives than the arms. It’s also easier to find meaningful takeaways for the bats, given the higher volume of appearances than we see from pitchers on AFL rosters. You’re talking about regular starts with a full slate of plate appearances therein against maybe one or two appearances in a week isolated to a single inning. 

That’s the takeaway from Week 2 of the Arizona Fall League: the offensive prospects give us more to examine, and the Cubs’ bats looked very good. The whole league has the day off on Monday before the Solar Sox make the extremely unenviable drive out to Surprise to kick off the week on Tuesday.

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[Rcal10]

Moises with a double and a homer today. Both balls crushed to right/right center. Sitting right behind home plate. Ball sounds different off his bat.