Muh hart. I can barely handle how much fun this is – well, probably, since it’s one Cubs prospect teeing off on another Cubs prospect.
Look, at this point, we know Cade Horton is very good. So a BP homer is not going to do anything to worry me on that front right now. By contrast, we SUSPECT Jefferson Rojas is going to be very good, given his performance as an 18-year-old shortstop in full-season ball with Myrtle Beach, but we’d love to see another big step forward this year.
That’s why, on the balance, this makes me so excited:
(A subsequent tweet confirmed, yes, that ball left the park. Hard to see.)
That is Rojas, still 18 for another two months, taking a CADE HORTON FASTBALL out of the park to the opposite field. Even if you allow for the fact that good pitchers get hit in live BP sometimes, too, it’s remarkable that Rojas – at his age – has the strength to power one out like that the other way.
You’d be silly to extrapolate much from something like this. It’s just supposed to be fun to watch. But I do think it’s fair to at least note that Rojas, who was already flashing precocious power last year, certainly didn’t get any weaker over the offseason.
And thanks to The Setup Man for catching the video!