If you look at James Triantos' prospect profile, you'll see he has 35-grade power. That's pretty low on the 20-80 scouting scale. But this season, the Cubs' No. 9 prospect is showing more pop than that grade would suggest.
Triantos bashed his third homer of the year on Saturday in Triple-A Iowa's 5-0 win over Louisville at Principal Park. That home run was part of a three-hit performance for Triantos, raising his average to .310 on the season. It was Triantos' eighth multihit game of the year, and his third in his past five games.
Pure hitting is one of Triantos' top skills; he has a career .283 average and consistently posts high contact rates. That trait earned him comparisons while in high school to players such as current Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman. But hitting the ball over the fence has never been a big part of Triantos' game. Through his first four Minor League seasons, the right-handed batter had 31 homers in 446 games. However, Saturday's dinger was his third in 21 games this season, and he has a .476 slugging percentage. That's 68 points higher than his career mark of .408 and 107 points more than his .369 slug with Iowa in 2025.
A former top 100 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, Triantos was the Cubs' No. 3 prospect a few years ago. His stock has slipped a little since then, but much like his slugging percentage, it appears to be on the rise this year.