David Bote might not be the most well-known Cubs prospect, but the Myrtle Beach Pelicans first baseman made an extremely noteworthy catch in Sunday’s loss to the Winston-Salem Dash (Chicago White Sox High-A affiliates).
With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, a Dash batter fouled one down the right field line, near the Winston-Salem bullpen. Bote tracked the ball over his shoulder and makes a fantastic, sliding, basket catch near the relievers’ bench:
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I’m not quite positive, but it looks like one of Bote’s legs ends up above the bench and the other below it. If so, the catch becomes all the more impressive. That takes a lot of careful tracking and flexibility. What an excellent catch.
Bote’s been in the Cubs organization since 2012, after being selected in the 18th round of the 2012 June Amateur Draft. He’s made his way through every stop on the organizational ladder (including both Double-A Tennessee and Triple-A Iowa), but has always bounced back down to the High-A level after a short while.
This year, Bote, 23, is having his best season at the plate, slashing .295/.368/.463 (133 wRC+), with a nice 9.3% walk rate and 15.9% strikeout rate. I wouldn’t look for Bote to be starting in Chicago anytime soon, but he could potentially carve out a nice career as a complementary player down the road. Catches like that won’t hurt!