Chicago Cubs prospect Kevin Alcántara continues blazing hot stretch in Double-A

Of late, few things feel more certain than death, taxes, and Kevin Alcántara getting red hot down the stretch of the season. While the major league Chicago Cubs have all but waved the white flag on a disappointing year, the Jaguar has hit his stride in a major way down in Double-A Tennessee, hitting his second home run in the last three games last night. His numbers have easily rebounded from a very rough start to the year and a promotion to Triple-A could soon follow.

With a homer and a walk on Tuesday, Alcántara is now up to a .275/.331/.424 slash line in 262 plate appearances on the season. That performance also extends his on-base streak to 20 games and hitting streak to nine. Considering he began the year with no hits through his first 29 plate appearances, it's a serious improvement and impressive for a player who, at 21 years old, is still young for the level.

Even more impressive, however, is Alcántara's numbers since that ice-cold start to the season. Heading into Tuesday night's game, he was slashing .307/.357/.465 when taking out his first eight games of the season. You can't entirely discount bad stretches, but his .822 OPS across that time would rank fifth in the Southern League, tied with Edgar Quero. Throughout the entire season, he's also cut down his strikeout rate to a manageable 25.8% strikeout rate.

Alcántara has accomplished all of this while continuing to grade out as a respectable defender in center field. His efforts as the outfield captain have been somewhat lost in the shuffle with the rise of Pete Crow-Armstrong, but his plus defense and good speed give him a lot of potential.

Kevin Alcántara still has room to grow with the Cubs

The big question, as always, remains the power, though he's showing impressive signs of late.
Alcántara now has nine home runs in a relatively depressed run-scoring environment, placing him just a couple shy of Matt Shaw. Moreover, those bombs have come hard and fast, with three in his last six. Assuming he can keep dropping the strikeout rate and continue flashing more power, there will be almost no questions left for him to answer at Double-A.

A lot of attention has been focused on Shaw his fellow Futures Game players that are fast approaching the majors Owen Caissie and Moises Ballesteros. Alcántara needs to be lumped in with this group right now considering how he's developing. Though he may still be a little behind what those players are accomplishing, he's moving fast and could really take off if he hits for just a bit more power. Triple-A will be a real test for him when the time comes, but if it goes anything like the past few levels, it may not take long for him to start tearing it up there too.

If anything, this is a reminder to keep an eye on Alcántara. He still has some work to do, but he is performing well past the pace of someone his age and is showing insane potential that could only grow as he fills out. The Cubs are building a formidable wave of prospects at the highest levels of the minors and it could mean great things ahead for Wrigley sooner rather than later.