Through five weeks of play in the Arizona Fall League, one Chicago Cubs prospect has separated himself from the rest.
Through 21 games, infielder James Triantos has been on a tear offensively.
He leads the Fall League in OPS, bashing a remarkable 1.205, while also ranking second among all players in On-Base Percentage (.505) and Batting Average (.425).
The Cubs selected Triantos with the 56th overall pick in the second round of the 2021 MLB Draft. He spent the majority of the 2023 season playing at High-A South Bend. With the South Bend Cubs, Triantos slashed .285/.363/.753 over 80 games.
Growing up, the star prospect looked to a former MVP for inspiration.
His favorite player was a slugging second baseman that received four All-Star nominations and collected two World Series rings.
"As a kid, it was Dustin Pedroia," Triantos said. "I’d say, because I was always small. I didn’t hit the ball as hard as anybody, but I could play baseball. I always knew how to play it the right way."
Listed at 6-foot-1, Triantos appears to actually be closer to 5-foot-9 or 5-foot-10. Standing at 5-foot-9 himself, Pedroia slashed .299/.365/.805 over the course of his 14-year big league career.
Just as Pedroia did for 14 years, Triantos has demonstrated the ability to spray the ball all over the field. He's greatly impressed at the AFL and has a good chance of winning Fall League MVP honors.
Pedroia isn't the only big leaguer the 20-year-old has found inspiration from.
"In high school I got to meet Kyle Schwarber," Triantos said. "And I was really looking up to him for the past couple of years. So those two are probably my top-2, I would say."
During the 2021 season, some of the Washington Nationals were in a difficult situation, so some of them found their way to Triantos' house in Fairfax, Virginia, during the infield prospect's final year of high school.
"A bunch of the [Washington Nationals] got COVID," he said. "They didn’t have a place to hit, and I have a couple cages in my house, so a couple of them came over and swung."
Triantos was like a kid in a candy store, watching the Nationals take batting practice at his own home. He has since stayed in touch with Schwarber and hopes to catch up with him in the offseason.
However, his game draws a much closer resemblance to Pedroia's than that of Schwarber's.
Triantos does not possess the same kind of power as Schwarber, nor does he have the same body type.
The Fairfax native is similar in stature to Pedroia, and he may possess some of the same hit tools as the Boston Red Sox great.
Will his career measure up to that of his childhood hero?
Only time will tell.
After completing the Arizona Fall League, Triantos will likely resume play in Double-A during the 2024 season. He reached their Double-A affiliate in 2023, playing just three games.
At 20 years-old, he still has a bit of a ways to go before reaching the show, but Triantos has given the Cubs a lot to be excited about moving forward.
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