Cubs Minor League News: AFL Edition |
Now that is more like it. One day after the Cubs prospects failed to deliver a single hit, all three of their offensive prospects were back in action and looking to deliver. Not only did all three pick up at least one hit, but they combined for five of the team RBIs in a 9-5 Mesa Solar Sox win over the Glendale Desert Dogs.
It's the kind of production the fans have been accustomed to seeing this fall and the kind they hope to see once they reach the majors or continue to move up in the Minor league system. As expected, Moises Ballesteros played a massive role in the team's success. He picked up another multi-hit game to finish with two hits while also driving in two. That raised his average to .375 as he continues to impress this season. Ballesteros started his night with a first-inning double and would come home to score on a Xavier Isaac double as part of the Solar Sox two-run first inning to pull within 3-2. Jonathon Long also delivered an RBI at the bottom of the first on an RBI ground out, which was the first of the two runs scored in that half of an inning. Ballesteros was just getting started. He connected for the game-winning two-run homer in the fifth inning, his third homer of the season. When you look at the Solar Sox's overall success this season, a lot of it hinges on the offense, as they continue to score a ton of runs. Long is a massive reason for that as the offense seems to do better when he is in the lineup. Despite coming away with just one hit in the game, he did manage to drive in two as he added an eighth-inning RBI single to his first-inning RBI double. Long hasn't seen the same type of action that Ballesteros and some of the others have, but with a .314 average and 11 RBIs, he is continuing to prove that he belongs in the offense more often than not. Rounding out the Cubs prospects for the day was Benjamin Cowles, who continues to get more regular at bats. Unlike Ballesteros and Long, who have continued to hit since day one, Cowles has gone through some growing pains and still hasn't settled into a groove, as his average is sitting at .206 for the season. Cowles has been making better contact lately, including his seventh-inning RBI triple today. That was his fifth RBI of the season, all of them coming in his last five starts. He is the one guy that a lot of the fans are going to pay attention to, as he is the biggest unknown in the Cubs system.
