Hey, there are actually some Cubs playing October baseball, but you’ll have to look a little deeper to find their highlights. The 2024 Arizona Fall League begins today and while the overall results may not matter to fans there are a few Cubs prospects who are worth monitoring this fall.
What is the Arizona Fall League? Every year, all 30 MLB have the opportunity to send prospects to Arizona to play in a competitive post-season league, where minor league players get the chance for more playing time. Teams send prospects to this league for various reasons, either because they want to see a player further develop a certain skill, get more in-game experience and sometimes to make up for lost time because of injury.
For the Cubs, the main prospect who will get the most attention in the Arizona Fall League is 20-year-old catching prospect Moises Ballesteros. Despite his age, Ballesteros has shown an advanced hitting profile at the plate and during his age-20 season was promoted up to Triple-A, where the left-handed hitter played in 68 games to end the 2024 minor league season.
Now, Ballesteros is one of eight Cubs prospects who will play in the Arizona Fall League and all eyes will be on the catcher’s continued development behind the plate. There’s no doubt that he can hit, but the Cubs obviously want Ballesteros to get as much work behind the plate to feel more comfortable about his potential role in the majors. The bat might already be capable against MLB pitching.
Ballesteros ended the 2024 minor league season with a 106 wRC+ at Triple-A, slashing .281/.340/.454, with 10 home runs in 285 plate appearances for the Iowa Cubs. Between his time at Double-A and Triple-A, Ballesteros posted a 127 wRC+, had an 8.9 BB% and only struck out 18.3% of the time.
Corner infielder Jonathan Long will also be playing in the Arizona Fall League and just in case you don’t know much about him, how about his 2024 numbers to grab your attention. Here’s what Long did in 46 games at Double-A to end 2024: .340/.455/.528, 189 wRC+, 17.5 BB%, 16.5 K%, 7 home runs, 9 doubles.
Long, 22, was a ninth-round draft pick in 2023 out of Long Beach State for the Cubs. There’s a chance that if he goes off in the Arizona Fall League, then the Cubs push him up to Triple-A to begin the 2025 season after possibly determining that Long doesn’t need more time at Double-A. That would be a pretty good development story from that 2023 Cubs draft class if Long moves up through the system that quickly.
You can see the full Arizona Fall League rosters below.
Here are all the prospects the Cubs sent to this year’s Arizona Fall League.
Moises Ballesteros – C/1B
Benjamin Cowles – INF
Grant Kipp – RHP
Jonathon Long – 1B
Shane Marshall – RHP
Aaron Perry – RHP
Vince Reilly – RHP
Luis Rujano – RHP
Good to see infielder Benjamin Cowles continuing his year. He was acquired from the Yankees back in July alongside right-handed pitcher Jack Neely in exchange for Mark Leiter Jr. Cowles missed a chunk of the season because of a wrist injury following a HBP and didn’t make his debut in the Cubs system until Sept. 10. The right-handed hitter was limited to 92 games at Double-A between his time in the minors with the Yankees and Cubs in 2024.
You will be able to stream Arizona Fall League games for free. You can find more info here.
