{"id":653594,"date":"2026-03-31T01:32:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T01:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/653594\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:32:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T01:32:42","slug":"moises-ballesteros-getting-lineup-opportunities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/653594\/","title":{"rendered":"Mois\u00e9s Ballesteros getting lineup opportunities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hitting coach Dustin Kelly can still remember the awe a then-18-year-old Mois\u00e9s Ballesteros generated around the Chicago Cubs\u2019 spring complex when he arrived in Arizona to join his first stateside affiliate squad<\/a> for the 2022 season.<\/p>\n

Within his first two swings during live batting practice, Ballesteros drove a home run to dead center field.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s like, who is that kid?\u201d Kelly told the Tribune. \u201cHe just has incredible rhythm and timing. And I think that\u2019s what you notice first when he steps into the box, he\u2019s just really comfortable, and he just has a movement and a flow to him that\u2019s really confident.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ballesteros\u2019 smooth swing and elite hit tool rocketed him through the Cubs\u2019 farm system to join rare company when he made the opening day roster<\/a>. Ballesteros, at 22 years and 138 days, became the youngest designated hitter to play for the Cubs on opening day. Only five players younger than him played on opening day for the Cubs since 1963: Addison Russell, Starlin Castro, Greg Maddux, Shawon Dunston and Ken Hubbs.<\/p>\n

Although he\u2019s had a slow start to the season, going 1-for-10 in the opening series against the Washington Nationals, the Cubs believe Ballesteros is poised for a big year. Ballesteros collected his first RBIs of the season with a timely two-out two-run single in the third off Los Angeles Angels starter Ryan Johnson to put the Cubs up 6-0 on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs he matures and gets older, he\u2019s going to open up that pull-side power, like we\u2019ve seen guys like Pete (Crow-Armstrong) did last year, they start to just learn how to pull the ball properly, and he\u2019s able to elevate it to the pull side you\u2019re going to see a guy that can use all fields and hit home runs, which is really cool,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cWe\u2019re not saying, go hit a bunch of home runs, but the way that his natural arc works in his swing path, he\u2019s going to drive the balls in the middle of the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

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When lauding Ballesteros\u2019 natural hitting ability at one point during spring training, manager Craig Counsell recalled how, during camp, he called the Cubs\u2019 hitting coaches together and jokingly told them to stay away from the rookie.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s so young, and he does a lot of things well, and he\u2019s going to improve,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cI think someday Mois\u00e9s will hit a lot of home runs. I don\u2019t think it\u2019ll be this year, but I think someday he\u2019ll hit a lot of home runs. \u2026 With his hitting gifts as he gets more experience and learns pitchers and learns his swing and things like that, he\u2019s definitely capable of doing it.<\/p>\n

The Cubs want to still develop Ballesteros as a catcher, but those game reps this year will be limited as long as Carson Kelly and Miguel Amaya are healthy.<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoChicago Cubs Seiya Suzuki, Mois\u00e9s Ballesteros and third base coach Quintin Berry celebrate after Suzuki drove in a run on a double in the third inning of a game against the New York Mets at Wrigley Field in Chicago on Sept. 24, 2025. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Ballesteros\u2019 playing time is expected to continue to largely come as the DH, giving the Cubs a platoon advantage in that spot against right-handers. That doesn\u2019t appear poised to significantly change this early in the season, even as Seiya Suzuki nears a return<\/a> from his PCL sprain. The Cubs want Suzuki to be healthy enough to resume his starting role in right field, which means being able to handle the running and movement he needs to roam the outfield.<\/p>\n

Suzuki\u2019s timeline to return from the injured list remains on track for where it was projected at the end of spring training. Counsell reiterated Monday that Suzuki could rejoin the Cubs during their upcoming road trip and that they\u2019re at the \u201clast steps\u201d of the rehab process. One key part of Suzuki\u2019s progression comes Tuesday when he will run at full speed, make quick changes of direction, then stop. The Cubs will then assess which day Suzuki begins his rehab assignment and how many at-bats he might need.<\/p>\n

The Cubs aren\u2019t envisioning fully using Suzuki as the DH to get him back quicker.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important that he be able to play right field, yes,\u201d Counsell said of Suzuki. \u201cI don\u2019t think he needs to play right field every day, but I do think we very much want him to be capable of playing right field when he comes back, at least on a semi-regular basis. If he couldn\u2019t, it would be better to invest more time in his healing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hitting coach Dustin Kelly can still remember the awe a then-18-year-old Mois\u00e9s Ballesteros generated around the Chicago Cubs\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2399],"tags":[5,138,24,4245,576,161,1663,4,256,1896,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-653594","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-cubs","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-cubs","11":"tag-chicagocubs","12":"tag-craig-counsell","13":"tag-cubs","14":"tag-dustin-kelly","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-mlb-baseball","17":"tag-moises-ballesteros","18":"tag-seiya-suzuki"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116321213649723327","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}