Cubs' Alcántara overcomes slow start with a big home run in Fall League

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Slow starts are not massive concerns for Kevin Alcántara, as he's proven throughout 2023. Take, for instance, his beginning to the season at High-A South Bend. Entering June, the Cubs outfielder was hitting .227/.259/.362 through his first 38 games in the Midwest League. From June 1 to July 19, he proceeded to hit .339/.413/.567 over 34 contests.

"Sometimes if I'm trying to do too much, my mechanics aren't loose during the game," he said. "Sometimes when I'm thinking too much, it's bad. … More chilling. No pressure. No everything. Keep going."

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So when the No. 4 Cubs prospect opened his time in the Arizona Fall League 4-for-23 (.174) with eight strikeouts, he fell right back into the mantra, and Wednesday's performance might have provided a look at him turning that corner.

Alcántara clubbed a homer -- his second of the AFL -- and reached twice in five plate appearances but couldn't keep Mesa from falling to Scottsdale, 9-8, at Scottsdale Stadium.

Until a four-run ninth inning gave the Scorpions a walk-off victory, it looked like Alcántara's blast would be the deciding blow in Wednesday's contest.

After being retired in his first three at-bats, the right-handed slugger went down 0-2 against Scottsdale left-hander Nick Jones in the seventh inning and got a fastball high and outside. The result: a three-run homer to right-center that put the Solar Sox up for the first time in the afternoon, 6-5. The ball traveled an estimated 383 feet and left the bat with a 97 mph exit velocity, exceeding the hard-hit standard.

For a player who pulled the ball 42.4 percent of the time with South Bend during the regular season, the direction of this particular homer provided a lot of hope for the Chicago prospect.

"I'm thinking every time opposite way, opposite way because in my mind and my body, sometimes I will pull the ball," he said. "But the adjustment is think in the middle every time [to balance out]."

It always seemed like only a matter of time until Alcántara showed signs of a breakout in the desert.

Ranked as MLB Pipeline's No. 71 overall prospect, the 21-year-old is one the more tooled-up talents in this year's Fall League. He already has wiry strength and could add even more power as he continues to fill out a 6-foot-6 frame. His running, arm and fielding tools all receive above-average grades too.

Alcántara's hot streak in the middle of the season was only slowed for a few weeks by a lower left leg strain, but even after returning from a three-and-a-half-week absence, he still hit .321/.385/.519 in his final 23 games with the Cubs' High-A affiliate and was promoted to Double-A Tennessee in mid-September for that club's run to a Southern League championship.

The AFL blip was just him finding his bearings again, he noted. He's spent time in the cages and BP work between Mesa starts working on his posture and directional approach knowing things would turn around. Now, the rest of the Fall League may want to watch out.

"The first week, you need to get accustomed because there are new pitchers, different teams," Alcántara said. "You're learning how they're pitching to you. Make the adjustment. Find your ball and swing at balls in the strike zone."

Alcántara and the Solar Sox looked like they would have a comfortable victory Wednesday until the home Scorpions came storming back. Phillies prospect Oliver Dunn delivered a two-run homer off Yankees hurler Matt Sauer to bring the hosts within one at 8-7. Fellow Yankee Nolberto Henriquez relieved Sauer but tied the game on a wild pitch with his first offering and delivered a walk-off balk with his second.