Cubs give minor league awards to Moisés Ballesteros and Brandon Birdsell

The Cubs today announced that catcher Moisés Ballesteros was named the Buck O’Neil Minor League Player of the Year and that right-hander Brandon Birdsell was honored as the Vedie Himsl Cubs Minor League Pitcher of the Year. Both started the season in Double-A Tennessee and finished the year with Triple-A Iowa.

Ballesteros, 20, has won the Minor League Player of the Year Award two years in a row now. This season, Ballesteros started the year in Double-A and in 56 games, hit .299/.372/.495 in the offensively-challenged Southern League. Had Ballesteros gotten enough plate appearances to qualify, he would have ranked third, fifth and first in the Southern League in those three categories respectively. He had nine doubles, one triple and nine home runs along with 43 RBI.

Ballesteros was promoted to Triple-A Iowa on June 18 and didn’t stop hitting. In 68 games in Iowa, he put up a line of .281/.340/.454 with 15 doubles and ten home runs.

Ballesteros’ combined line was .289/.354/.471 with 19 home runs and 78 RBI in 124 games. He led all qualified Cubs minor leaguers in average, while finishing second in RBI, third in slugging percentage and OPS and tied for fourth in home runs.

Ballesteros was also named to the National League team at the Futures Game as part of the All-Star Week festivities in Texas. After the season, he was named to the All-MiLB Prospect Second Team. A native of Los Teques, Venezuela, Ballesteros signed with the Cubs as an international free agent January 15, 2021.

Birdsell also started the season in Double-A Tennessee and made 15 appearances with 14 starts. He went 4-4 with a 3.63 ERA over 74 ¹⁄₃ innings. He struck out 65 batters and walked just 13.

Birdsell was promoted to Iowa on July 10. After a rough introduction to Triple-A, Birdsell excelled in August, making five starts and going 3-1 with a 1.82 ERA. He struck out 35 and walked just six in 29 ²⁄₃ innings that month.

Overall for his time in Triple-A, the 24-year-old Birdsell went 4-5 with a 4.26 ERA over 61 ¹⁄₃ innings. He struck out 134 batters and walked just 31 over 135 ²⁄₃ innings. The right-hander led all Chicago minor league pitchers in starts, innings pitched and strikeouts. Birdsell’s walk percentage of 5.4% was the lowest of all Cubs minor league starters (minimum 20 starts).

Birdsell was a fifth-round pick of the Cubs in 2022 out of Texas Tech.