Chicago Cubs Could Look To Change Position of Their Superstar Prospect

It seems like the Chicago Cubs might be eyeing a position change for one of their superstar prospects.

Iowa Cubs catcher Moises Ballesteros steps up to bat against Cleveland on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024, at Principal Park. / Cody Scanlan/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK

Almost as soon as this past season ended for the Chicago Cubs, there was already information about a singular position they were looking to upgrade during the winter.

It was no secret that catcher was a major issue for them from an offensive productivity standpoint.

Despite moving Yan Gomes into the backup role behind Miguel Amaya, that duo could not produce anywhere close to the league average on offense. That prompted the Cubs to ultimately release the veteran and bring in Tomas Nido to take over as the No. 2.

He worked for a little bit, but with Amaya still not finding his way during his first full-time year as the starter, things continued to be a problem until they signed Christian Bethancourt once Nido got injured.

But with Bethancourt opting to hit free agency, there is now a clear need for Chicago to find someone who can bring an offensive element to the game.

There is a lot of optimism surrounding star prospect Moises Ballesteros after he flew through their pipeline and reached Triple-A this past season where he continued to rake at the plate despite the age difference, but the Cubs don't seem ready to promote him to the bigs just yet.

Signing another free agent seems to be their most likely option, with Travis d'Arnaud being a real possibility, but when it comes to the future of their fourth-ranked prospect, Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic provided a bombshell report.

"As for prospect Moises Ballesteros, the Cubs are more optimistic about his chances to be a major-league catcher now than they were a year ago. But the club is still unsure about his chances to project as a future everyday catcher. There is no doubting his offensive potential, though, so perhaps a valuable role would be as a designated hitter who occasionally works as a catcher, creating more roster options and better matchups," they wrote.

That certainly is interesting.

There's no doubt Ballesteros's bat is far ahead of where he is defensively, something Chicago knew when signing him as an international free agent, so maybe they feel like he can inject some life into the offense as a hitter while he continues to get some reps behind the plate.

But that also could hurt his development.

If the Cubs call him up to the Majors and aren't giving him the experience he needs behind the plate to keep improving, then that might never allow him to reach his ceiling of being an elite two-way catcher.

This will be something to monitor throughout next season as Chicago figures out what they want to do with the 21-year-old rising star.