Moises Ballesteros' AFL stint could have major implications for the 2025 Cubs

Moises Ballesteros continues to turn heads with the bat, now playing in the Arizona Fall League for the Mesa Solar Sox. The bat seems likely to play, no matter what. The bigger question facing the 20-year-old is whether or not he can continue to improve defensively, to the point the Chicago Cubs can trust him to handle a big-league pitching staff.

Ballesteros absolutely annihilated his first AFL homer last weekend - one of those stand-and-watch-it-go-type blasts if you're the opposing team.

In 20 plate appearances, Ballesteros has picked up right where he left off during the regular season, slashing .412/.450/.647 entering Tuesday. The concerns surrounding his defense, rooted at least partially in his size (he's just 5-foot-8 and isn't particularly agile) aren't going away - but he's doing everything he can to rise to the challenge.

Some pondered if the Cubs would shift him over to first base as a way to get the bat to Wrigley sooner rather than later. With Michael Busch's breakout rookie season, though, that seems unlikely. Even if the team were to move Busch off the position, it would be for a major addition - something along the lines of Pete Alonso - not for a rookie with fewer than 300 Triple-A plate appearances to his credit.

As far as Ballesteros is concerned, his path to Chicago remains as a catcher.

“They haven’t said anything to me about playing first base,” Ballesteros told MLB.com. “I’ve been focusing on playing catcher, and that’s what my focus is on now.”

That would be the best-case scenario for Jed Hoyer and the Cubs, as well. But after expecting Miguel Amaya to take over as the primary catcher in 2024 only to see him stumble badly for much of the season, the team can ill-afford to head into 2025 assuming Ballesteros will not only be ready to make the jump, but be an impactful piece of the 26-man roster.

A trade seems to be the likeliest route here, given a relatively weak free-agent class of catchers this winter. We know Hoyer tried to pry away one of the game's best young backstops from the Angels prior to the trade deadline, but came up short in his efforts. Chicago has to add a proven commodity that will stabilize the position, which will allow them to promote Ballesteros only when they're certain he's ready on both sides of the ball.

Doing otherwise would be a disservice to Ballesteros and ownership's recently-repeated goal of bringing 'sustained success' and 'championship-caliber baseball' back to Wrigleyville.