Late arrival won't slow Ballesteros' push to make Cubs roster

MESA, Ariz. -- Moisés Ballesteros managed to travel to Colombia from his native Venezuela amid visa issues that delayed his arrival at Spring Training with the Cubs. He was stranded there for a week and a half, but found a local stadium near his hotel to at least get some workouts in as he waited.

Once the proper paperwork was approved, Ballesteros then encountered flight delays that had him stuck in Houston for a bit on Saturday before getting to Arizona. On Sunday, the Cubs’ top prospect (No. 55 on Pipeline’s Top 100 list) was finally back in camp, ready to get back to work in this important spring.

“I was anxious,” Ballesteros said via interpreter Fredy Quevedo Jr. “But I’m happy now to be here, be with my team. I’m excited to talk to them and ready to be back.”

The 22-year-old Ballesteros has an opportunity to make the Cubs’ Opening Day roster as a designated hitter and third catching option behind regulars Carson Kelly and Miguel Amaya. The rookie’s bat is what carried him quickly up the Minor League ladder to Chicago and the DH role is his most likely path to at-bats in the big leagues this year.

Cubs manager Craig Counsell noted that Ballesteros will get work behind the plate and at first base this spring, but he would be a reserve at those spots. The Cubs have always been high on Ballesteros’ skill as a hitter and the prospect opened plenty of eyes in his 20-game stint in the Majors last season.

“He showed what got him to the big leagues,” Counsell said. “And that’s not always easy to do in a smaller sample. Kind of right off the bat, he showed what he’s really good at. He’s a good hitter. And he’s a gifted hitter.”

Ballesteros played a handful of games for the Cubs in May and had a one-game stop in the big leagues in July, but it was his September that really jumped off the page. When star outfielder Kyle Tucker landed on the injured list in the final month, Ballesteros was given steady at-bats as a DH as the Cubs pushed toward a playoff berth.

In his taste of the Majors overall, Ballesteros hit .298/.394/.474, which was a strong initial slash line for the back of his baseball card. As he got more comfortable, the lefty-swinging Ballesteros saw his numbers tick up, too. In 14 games in September, he hit .333 with four extra-base hits, five RBIs, seven walks, nine runs and a .999 OPS.

Given the context -- filling at-bats for Tucker while experiencing the pressure of a playoff chase -- Ballesteros’ teammates were impressed.

“You have your impression of younger players from afar and what their skillset is,” Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner said. “But you really want to see how they react to things moving at the highest level at game speed. It was just so clear that he’s comfortable being himself and it’s really easy to believe in hitting prospects that are such pure hitters. He’s got legit pop, but he’s a hit-first kind of guy.”

Hoerner paused, his eyes widened and then he added: “The homer he hit in Pittsburgh was ridiculous.”

On Sept. 17, Ballesteros pulled an inside fastball (94.6 mph) from Johan Oviedo and sent it sailing over PNC Park’s right-field bleacher seats. The homer had an exit velocity of 112.8 mph. A few days earlier, Ballesteros’ first career homer was an opposite-field shot at Wrigley Field, where the ball was nearly caught by Cubs icon Anthony Rizzo.

“Yeah, great bat control, too,” Hoerner said with a laugh.

Counsell noted that Ballesteros would swing the bat “casually” over the next handful of days as he gradually increases his workload. It could be a week or so before the prospect makes his Cactus League debut, just to give him ample time to build up similarly to a typical early-spring schedule for position players.

Both Ballesteros and Counsell have expressed confidence that there is plenty of time for the catcher to get enough at-bats ahead of Opening Day (March 26). That said, the message so far is that Ballesteros still has to earn his way onto the Cubs’ roster, even after his successful stay in Chicago last year.

“He’s certainly going to be competing for that job,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. “You saw the bat-to-ball skills. You saw the power. He’s a really gifted hitter. Obviously, he’s going to have to come in here and earn that spot.”

Ballesteros said that was already how he planned on approaching this spring.

“I always try to keep the same mentality -- that I have to win my spot,” Ballesteros said. “I try not to get too comfortable and always strive to get [better].”