Cubs hope promotion of another top prospect helps get a struggling offense going

With a losing streak that's stretched to six games and an offense that seems incapable of manufacturing runs, regardless of how good of an opportunity it finds itself in, the Chicago Cubs are shaking things up, calling up outfielder Kevin Alcantara ahead of Saturday's game at Wrigley Field.

Alcantara, MLB Pipeline's fifth-ranked Cubs prospect, isn't new to the big leagues, with 13 games under his belt, but he's never had an extended runway. He brings legitimate power to a lineup that's desperately searching for answers and is in store for some changes, according to manager Craig Counsell.

On the year with Triple-A Iowa, Alcantara has 15 home runs and a .906 OPS - bouyed by a .567 slugging percentage. He's walking at an above-average clip (12.2 percent), but he's struck out in 33.3 percent of his plate appearances. There's a lot of swing-and-miss in his game, but there's no questioning the upside he offers.

A former top-100 prospect, peaking as Pipeline's #65 prospect prior to the 2024 season, Alcantara fell out of most prospect evaluator's good graces coming into this year - so the call-up gives him a chance to force his way back into the conversation (and, perhaps, the Cubs' plans post-2026 when Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki potentially depart via free agency).

Cubs' bench just improved after dumping a rarely-used piece in DFA

There was some debate over whether the Cubs would option struggling rookie Moises Ballesteros to Iowa or designate Nicky Lopez for assignment, but it wound up being the latter. Lopez hadn't appeared in a game since May 9 and hasn't drawn a plate appearance since May 5, so if Alcantara provides any value, it's an upgrade on the position player side of the equation.

As for Ballesteros, he got off to an incredible start, slashing .338/.392/.620 in March and April before bottoming out in May. In 45 trips to the plate this month, he's hit just .073/.133/.146 and his strikeout is more than 10 percent higher than it was in the early-going.

With Chicago struggling offensively, Counsell hasn't been able to let Ballesteros keep trying to work through his woes at the plate - frankly, the Cubs can't waste the at-bat right now. Hopefully, a reset at Iowa helps get him back on track because the team needs him to be a productive piece if they're going to punch a postseason ticket and make a deep October run.

We'll see how much playing time Alcantara ends up getting but, given how bad the Cubs have looked over the last week, it's hard to believe letting him play will yield worse results than what we've seen.

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