Cubs already ruling out fast-rising prospect as solution to Major League roster need

The Chicago Cubs are in a unique position when it comes to the position players that they have on their Major League roster.

Even though the offseason just started, the argument can be made that the position player side of the Cubs' roster is just about set. With Cody Bellinger's return, the Cubs have nearly every spot of their starting lineup in place.

The exception to that is at catcher. The struggles of Yan Gomes and Miguel Amaya at the start of the 2024 season aided the failures of the team's offense during May and June. Gomes was designated for assignment while Amaya did manage to alter his mechanics, leading to some offensive success in July and August. Amaya's struggles returned during the month of September, providing validation to the Cubs' front office desire to upgrade the catching position this offseason.

In their latest episode of Northside Territory, Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney touched on the Cubs' search for catching help this offseason. They all but ruled out the Cubs making a trade for an established catcher while mentioning the free agent names we have already heard: Travis d'Arnaud, Carson Kelly, and Danny Jansen.

The topic of fast-rising prospects Moises Ballesteros also came up during the episode. The sentiment was more of what they reported on earlier this week.

But the club is still unsure about his chances to project as a future everyday catcher. There is no doubting his offensive potential, though, so perhaps a valuable role would be as a designated hitter who occasionally works as a catcher, creating more roster options and better matchups.

The indication is that the Cubs' front office is not projecting Ballesteros to be their long-term everyday catcher. That's not a real surprise. The reason why Ballesteros has jumped up the Cubs' prospect rankings is due to his bat as there is a real belief that his bat can make a difference at the Major League level.

For the 2025 season, it would seem that the Cubs are hoping for Ballesteros to be their next iteration of Kyle Schwarber. Schwarber, a catching prospect at the time of being drafted by the Cubs, flew through the organization due to his offensive profile. When Scwarber reached the Major League level, it was more about getting his bat into the starting lineup than it was about him being a catcher. Ultimately, Schwarber shifted to the outfield. For Ballesteros, that shift will likely be to being the team's designated hitter.