Rising Chicago Cubs prospect Jonathon Long continues to destroy pitching and remains among the batting leaders in the Arizona Fall League. The 22-year-old homered in back-to-back games this week, raising his OPS to 1.147, which ranks third-best among hitters with at least 60 at-bats so far in Arizona.
Long homered for the sixth time in the AFL on Wednesday, finishing the game with a double, walk and three runs driven in. It’s tough to put stock on what Long’s future value could be as a DH/1B profile, but the prospect has a chance to get on the national radar if he continues this offensive output in 2025. He’s now slashing 355/.453/.694, in 15 games.
Jonny Long unloads. pic.twitter.com/GTxRmUEb27
— Brad (@ballskwok) November 6, 2024
A ninth round draft pick out of Long Beach State in 2023, Long reached Double-A during the 2024 season and was a monster in 40 games. The right-handed hitter posted a 189 wRC+ in 200 plate appearances with the Smokies, slashing .340/.455/.528, with 7 home runs, while drawing more walks than strikeouts.
It would be an aggressive call, but there’s a chance that the Cubs place Long at Triple-A to begin the 2025 season.
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Emerging Cubs prospect Jonathon Long had a monster game in the Arizona Fall League Wednesday night. The right-handed hitter recorded three hits, drove in five runs and blasted his first home run in the AFL.
Long, 22, had a breakout 2024 minor league season in the Cubs system. The corner infield and sometimes left fielder was promoted to Double-A following the All-Star break and now he has visions of beginning the 2025 season in Triple-A. That would be an outstanding outcome for the 2023 ninth round draft pick out of Long Beach State.
After a solid few months with the South Bend Cubs, Long destroyed pitching in a Tennessee Smokies uniform, posting a 189 wRC+ at Double-A in 200 trips to the plate to end the 2024 season. What made Long’s final couple months so special was that he had more walks (35) than strikeouts (33) while not losing his aggressiveness. Long smashed seven homers at Double-A and had nine doubles.
Now, the slugger is getting a chance to shine among other rising top prospects in the Arizona Fall League and on Wednesday Long was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. He singled in the first inning, doubled in the third inning with the bases loaded and then showed off his opposite field power with a two-run homer to right center field in the seventh.
No matter where he’s played Long has hit since being drafted by the Cubs. Last year in his pro ball debut Long slashed .260/.380/.532 in 92 plate appearances with Myrtle Beach.
Jonathon Long, remember that name.
Meanwhile, top-100 prospect Moises Ballesteros also had a multi-hit game, going 2-for-6, with an RBI-single in the first and an RBI-double in the ninth.
Cubs Prospects in the 2024 Arizona Fall League
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.
