Moisés Ballesteros carries a mantra with him into the batter’s box.
The Chicago Cubs’ 22-year-old designated hitter always wants to try to put himself in the best position. Sometimes that means fouling off tough pitches to keep the at-bat going. He always wants to avoid striking out.
“I always say to myself, no one’s better than you,” Ballesteros said to the Tribune through an interpreter. “There’s nobody that’s better than you.”
Ballesteros’ hot first month has helped the Cubs sit at the top of the National League Central. He entered their four-game series against the Cincinnati Reds slashing .317/.380/.598 with six home runs, 18 RBIs and a 180 OPS+. As much as Ballesteros is willing and able to work counts, he’s shown no hesitation swinging at the first pitch.
Ballesteros’ 12 hits on the first pitch of an at-bat are tied for the most in the majors, while his 11 RBIs rank second. His first-pitch .600 average is fourth-highest in MLB (minimum 10 plate appearances). One of his biggest moments of first-pitch damage came April 27 in San Diego when he connected for a grand slam off Padres starter Randy Vásquez.
“He’s just incredibly confident when he steps in that box knowing that if he gets a good pitch to hit, that he’s going to be ready to hit it,” hitting coach Dustin Kelly told the Tribune. “He doesn’t need to get into the flow of the at-bat, like, he is ready as soon as he steps in. … Most pitchers want to get ahead early and some guys do that by getting some chase, some guys get that by pounding the zone, and he’s able to handle pitches in the zone, and he’s also able to go up and out of the zone a little bit or even away.”
Ballesteros hasn’t feasted on just one pitch type in those spots, either.
For those 12 first-pitch hits, he connected on six different pitch types: three curveballs, three cutters, two sliders, two four-seam fastballs, one sinker and one changeup.
His ability to attack regardless of pitch type can create a challenge for opposing pitchers. Ballesteros can crush mistakes, especially at the beginning of an at-bat, and his contact ability allows him to spray the ball around the field. But he’s willing to draw a walk.
“To me, just watching the game, I don’t really know what a weakness would be,” right-hander Jameson Taillon said. “There’s pretty good bat-to-ball, not a ton of miss, pretty good eye, not a ton of chase. So that right there is a good recipe. You’re making guys come into the zone and then you mix that with just crazy barrel feel, super simple swing, repeatable swing — even when he swings-and-misses, he never looks fooled. He’s still getting his swing off right. It’s never on the pitcher’s terms.”
Ballesteros tends to keep a simple approach: hit the ball toward the middle of the field and hit it hard. As manager Craig Counsell put it, “I wouldn’t overcomplicate this. This is just Moisés being himself. It’s not a lot of homework or anything like that, it’s not guessing on the first pitch, it’s just him being himself.”
At some point, the league’s pitchers will make more adjustments against Ballesteros. Maybe test how generally disciplined he is within his approach to see if his strong chase rate holds. Perhaps they try to attack him with more breaking pitches, which he’s hitting only .222 against with a 31.5% whiff rate.
“He’s got a huge belief in himself,” Ian Happ said. “But I think just how comfortable he is in the box, and you see it with his move, like, it’s a big, confident move. Man, he can hit. And when you have that confidence and you’re just moving aggressively all the time, it’s really fun to watch him.”
Last year, during his first taste of the majors, Ballesteros showed the type of calmness not often consistently displayed by such a young hitter. Only 50 games into his big-league career, Ballesteros hasn’t experienced many moments where he’s overmatched.
“He is able to slow the moment down when he gets in there and go have his at-bat, and it doesn’t really matter who’s on the mound, he’s going to have his at-bat and stick to his plan,” Kelly said. “He’s done an awesome job.”
