Moises Ballesteros

22-Year-Old DHDH
2026 Fantasy Outlook
The biggest question surrounding Ballesteros in fantasy is if/when he will regain catcher eligibility, as the hitting savant enters 2026 UT-only in most formats. To say Ballesteros is a bat-first catching prospect is an understatement, as he is a plus hitter whose defense behind the plate is bad enough that he played 18 games at DH, two games at first base and just one game at catcher across multiple stints with the big club in 2025. Ballesteros slashed .316/.385/.473 with 13 home runs, a 9.6 percent walk rate and a 13.2 percent strikeout rate in 114 games as the second-youngest qualified hitter at Triple-A, behind Phillies slap hitter Justin Crawford. Despite his youth, the 5-foot-8, 195-pound Ballesteros is already a well below-average athlete, but his bat has a realistic chance to be good enough for him to play regularly at the bottom of the defensive spectrum. He may not access 20-homer power in his age-22 season, but he should hit 20-25 homers during his mid-20s while hitting for a high average with high on-base percentages. It's rare for a team to play a 22-year-old regularly at designated hitter, and teams are typically reluctant to give up on a young catcher's defense this early. If Ballesteros goes the Ben Rice route and adds catcher eligibility in 2026, it'll be a massive boon for those rostering him, but it's far from a guarantee. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season From Preseason
#359
ADP
Signed a one-year contract with the Cubs in March of 2026.
Sitting down Saturday
DHChicago Cubs
May 16, 2026
Ballesteros isn't in the lineup for Saturday's game against the White Sox.
Analysis
After going eight straight games without a hit, Ballesteros notched a single in Friday's win to break his streak. He'll step out of the lineup to begin Saturday's contest, putting Ian Happ in the DH spot and allowing Michael Conforto to start in left field.
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Batting Stats
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2026 MLB Game Log
2026
2025
2026 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
11
2
10
6
1
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
1
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2024
 
 
+47%
OPS vs RHP
2026
 
 
+47%
OPS vs RHP
2025
 
 
+76%
OPS vs RHP
2024
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2024vs Left .556 12 3 0 0 0 .111 .333 .222
Since 2024vs Right .820 174 23 8 31 0 .276 .339 .481
2026vs Left .536 8 1 0 0 0 .143 .250 .286
2026vs Right .788 112 13 6 20 0 .257 .313 .475
2025vs Left .500 4 2 0 0 0 .000 .500 .000
2025vs Right .878 62 10 2 11 0 .309 .387 .491
2024vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2024vs Right 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More Splits View More Split Stats
Minor League Splits View Minor League Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2024
 
 
+15%
OPS at Home
2026
 
 
+11%
OPS at Home
2025
 
 
+21%
OPS at Home
2024
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2024Home .852 106 17 4 16 0 .290 .368 .484
Since 2024Away .744 80 9 4 15 0 .236 .300 .444
2026Home .805 68 7 3 10 0 .267 .338 .467
2026Away .728 52 7 3 10 0 .229 .269 .458
2025Home .936 38 10 1 6 0 .333 .421 .515
2025Away .774 28 2 1 5 0 .250 .357 .417
2024Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2024Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More Splits View More Split Stats
Stat Review
How does Moises Ballesteros compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.43
 
BB Rate
8.3%
 
K Rate
19.2%
 
BABIP
.259
 
ISO
.213
 
AVG
.250
 
OBP
.308
 
SLG
.463
 
OPS
.771
 
wOBA
.334
 
Exit Velocity
90.7 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
40.2%
 
Barrels/PA
9.2%
 
Expected BA
.256
 
Expected SLG
.449
 
Sprint Speed
21.5 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
44.8%
 
Line Drive %
20.7%
 
Fly Ball %
34.5%
 
Prospect Rankings History
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Additional Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Moises Ballesteros See More
Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Moises Ballesteros See More
2025 Fantasy Outlook
A 5-foot-8, 200-pound catcher who many evaluators expect to be limited to first base or designated hitter, Ballesteros' bat is essentially big-league ready. Ballesteros slashed .286/.352/.469 with an 18.3 percent strikeout rate and 19 home runs in 124 games across Double-A and Triple-A as a 20-year-old, and if Ballesteros played good defense anywhere on the field, he'd be a much safer and alluring prospect. He looks like a less doughy Alejandro Kirk, and his athleticism, framing, blocking and throwing are all below-average relative to a typical big-league catcher. The Cubs will surely keep trying to develop Ballesteros into a passable defensive catcher, as finding at-bats for him at first base or designated hitter could be tricky when the Cubs are at full strength. However, those in dynasty leagues should be aware that he may lose catcher eligibility in the next couple years. On the slight chance he retains catcher eligibility while getting a lot of run at DH, then his dynasty managers will have hit the jackpot.
More Fantasy News
Taking seat Friday
DHChicago Cubs
May 8, 2026
Ballesteros isn't in the lineup for Friday's game against the Rangers.
Analysis
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Powers team Sunday
DHChicago Cubs
May 3, 2026
Ballesteros went 2-for-4 with a walk, a two-run home run and an additional run scored in Sunday's 8-4 win over the Diamondbacks.
Analysis
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Will see more action at catcher
DHChicago Cubs
April 28, 2026
The Cubs are "accelerating the catching program" for Ballesteros, Patrick Mooney of The Athletic reports.
Analysis
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Crushes grand slam in loss
DHChicago Cubs
April 28, 2026
Ballesteros went 1-for-4 with a grand slam in Monday's 9-7 loss against the Padres.
Analysis
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Making first start at catcher
DHChicago Cubs
April 27, 2026
Ballesteros will start at catcher and bat sixth in Monday's game versus the Padres.
Analysis
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Could see regular at-bats in 2026
DHChicago Cubs
November 14, 2025
Ballesteros could be in line to see regular at-bats with the Cubs in 2026, Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney of The Athletic speculate.
Analysis
The Cubs could try to sign a high-profile designated hitter for the 2026 season to replace Kyle Tucker, but if they don't, expect Ballesteros to be in the mix to see regular at-bats alongside another high-profile prospect, Owen Caissie. Ballesteros, who came through the Cubs' system as a catcher but is likely to be a full-time DH at the big-league level, hit .298 with an .868 OPS across 20 games and 66 plate appearances during the 2025 regular season.
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