… and a report on two Cubs prospects.
MESA, Arizona — Along with 391 other baseball geeks, I attended the Arizona Fall League game Thursday afternoon at Sloan Park between the Mesa Solar Sox and Scottsdale Scorpions.
Cubs prospects (along with prospects from the Angels, Red Sox, A’s and Rays) play for the Solar Sox.
The Solar Sox won the game 4-1, but you’re obviously interested in hearing about the Cubs prospects who played.
I was a bit disappointed that Moises Ballesteros, the best Cubs prospect in the AFL and one who’s generated a lot of buzz, didn’t play in this game.
But as you shall see, there was some excitement generated by another Cubs prospect.
Grant Kipp, a Cubs minor league righthander, started this game. Kipp attended Yale (another Ivy Leaguer for the Cubs!) and was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Cubs in 2022. In 2024 he split time between the Complex League Cubs and South Bend and truth be told, didn’t put up very good numbers — a 6.15 ERA in 13 games (10 starts).
Nevertheless, he looked pretty good in this game. Kipp threw three shutout innings, striking out five. He doesn’t throw hard — I saw only a handful of pitchers over 90 on the Sloan Park pitch speed meter — but has a good assortment of offspeed stuff.
Here are Kipp’s five strikeouts [VIDEO].
And in a scene you’d only see at a Fall League game, after his outing Kipp came into the stands — in full uniform! — met up with his mom, and chatted with some fans:
Al Yellon
Kipp has shown well so far in the AFL, with a 3.00 ERA and 12 strikeouts in nine innings. That’s particularly good since the AFL is known to be a hitters’ league. It’s possible he’ll be assigned to Double-A Tennessee next year.
The other Cubs prospect in this game was first baseman Jonathon Long, who showed a good glove at first base. In his first three plate appearances, he struck out, walked and grounded to third.
Then he led off the eighth inning with this long (ha!) home run [VIDEO].
Long is batting .316/.366/.605 (12-for-38) with three home runs and 12 RBI in eight games so far in the AFL.
I’ll probably head to a couple more AFL games as the season goes into mid-November. The Solar Sox are in third place in the six-team league. The second- and third-place teams play a “play-in” game and then the winner will meet the first-place team in the championship game, which happens Saturday, Nov. 16. That game will be televised on MLB Network.
Josh will have a complete Solar Sox wrap here on Monday.