Jefferson Rojas
Week: 6 G, 26 AB, .308/.345/.692, 8 H, 1 2B, 0 3B, 3 HR, 1 BB, 8 K, 1/1 SB, .313 BABIP (Triple-A)
2026 Season: 29 G, 118 AB, .280/.336/.593, 33 H, 8 2B, 1 3B, 9 HR, 11 BB, 24 K, 3/5 SB, .276 BABIP (Double-A) / 6 G, 26 AB, .308/.345/.692, 8 H, 1 2B, 0 3B, 3 HR, 1 BB, 8 K, 1/1 SB, .313 BABIP (Triple-A)
Jefferson Rojas was signed by the Chicago Cubs out of Puerto Plata on January 15, 2022. Considered one of the better international free agents in the 2022-2023 class, the Cubs gave the 16-year-old infielder
a $1 million signing bonus. The seven-figure bonus was validation for Jefferson’s father, Ricardo, who was signed by the Cleveland Indians as an international rookie himself, playing in their minor league system in the early-to-mid-2000s and progressing as high as High-A. Not much after Jefferson’s 10th birthday, Ricardo realized that he had true baseball talent and began enrolling him in Dominican baseball academies. A few years later, he himself quit his own job to begin personally training his son and taking him to baseball showcases and other events around the island. While not considered a premium international prospect by most evaluators and outlets, Rojas was considered an advanced player. He looked confident against live pitching, had a lean, projectable body that already was capable a bit of pop, was an average runner, and had a chance at sticking at shortstop, with second and third viable alternatives if he eventually wouldn’t be able.
The Cubs had Rojas assigned to the DSL Cubs Blue in his debut season, one of their two teams in the Dominican Summer League. The 17-year-old had an excellent year, appearing in 45 games and hitting .303/.391/.407 with 6 doubles, 3 triples, 1 home run, 15 stolen bases, and 16 walks to 18 strikeouts. Because of his success, the Cubs sent Rojas stateside for the 2023 season. He began the year with the Arizona Complex League Cubs but spent just one game there before organization evaluators reconsidered and decided to challenge Rojas with a much more challenging assignment, promoting the 18-year-old to the Single-A Myrtle Beach Pelicans. One of the youngest players in the Carolina League in 2023, the infielder more than held his own, hitting .268/.345/.404 in 70 games with 14 doubles, 1 triple, 7 home runs, 13 stolen bases, and 23 walks to 61 strikeouts. His performance got him some positive attention, and multiple evaluators and outlets began including Rojas in their top Chicago Cubs prospects list, generally just making or just missing the team’s top 10.
In 2024, Rojas was promoted to the High-A South Bend Cubs, and for the first time in his professional career, he struggled. The infielder appeared in 96 games and hit .245/.310/.336 with 10 doubles, 3 triples, 6 home runs, 21 stolen bases, and 35 walks to 64 strikeouts. While the surface-level numbers were underwhelming, the underlying batted ball data was still quite favorable, showing above-average power markers as compared to his cohort, above-average contact rates against fastballs, breaking balls, and off-speed pitches, and a positive balance of patience and aggression at the plate. Because of this Rojas remained more or less where he was on most top prospect lists.
The 20-year-old returned to the South Bend Cubs for the beginning of the 2025 season and spent the majority of the season there. Appearing in 67 games, he hit an improved .278/.379/.492 with 13 doubles, 4 triples, 11 home runs, 14 stolen bases, and 38 walks to 47 strikeouts. Key to the improvements in his Midwest League production from passable to above-average was an intentional focus to pull-and-lift the ball, leading to more barrels and higher-quality contact. In mid-July, the Cubs promoted Rojas to the Double-A Knoxville Smokies. The infielder into a wall in his first taste of Double-A baseball, appearing in 39 games over the course of the rest of the 2025 season and hit .164/.279/.205 with 6 doubles, 5 stolen bases, and 20 walks to 34 strikeouts.
Rojas felt that his final two months of 2025 was embarrassing and not reflective of the player that he is and used that as fuel during the off-season, building strength and muscle. He also adjusted his mechanics at the plate, moving his hands further from his body and increasing his stride, two slight changes that would help him get his arms extended and get out in front of pitches, activating that newfound strength better during in-game situations. He remained with Double-A Knoxville when the season began and hit a home run in his very first at-bat, setting the stage for the season to come. Rojas ended up appearing in 91 games for the Smokies and hit .270/.339/.461 with 19 doubles, 1 triple, 15 home runs, 17 stolen bases, and drew 35 walks to 64 strikeouts.
On August 3rd, Rojas’ career with the Cubs came to an end. In exchange for right-handed pitcher Clay Holmes and outfielder Tyrone Taylor, Chicago sent the Mets the 21-year-old infielder. He was assigned to the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies and continued where he left off with the Smokies, hitting .280/.336/.593 in 29 games with 8 doubles, 1 triple, 9 home runs. In mid-September, after the Double-A season ended, Rojas was promoted to Triple-A Syracuse and had an incredible week.
In total, the infielder hit a cumulative .272/.338/.495 in 120 Double-A games with 27 doubles, 2 triples, 24 home runs, 20 stolen bases, and drew 46 walks to 88 strikeouts and hit .308/.345/.692 in 6 additional Triple-A games, with one more double, three more homers, 1 more stolen base, 1 more walk, and 8 more strikeouts.
Rojas, who is listed at 5’11” and still weighing 150-pounds, has added a lot of muscle mass to his once thin frame and likely weighs at least twenty pounds more. At the plate, he stands tall and slightly open, holding his hands at eye level, wrapping his bat behind his head at 1:30. He swings with a slight leg lift and has a fluid, rotational stroke that has been optimized towards pulling and lifting the ball.
Even going back to his earliest days as a professional, Rojas has always had an advanced hit tool, showing a good eye at the plate and making strong swing decisions. At times, he can fall back on passivity to draw walks in lieu of being more aggressive but ending up with poor results, particularly when he is slumping or is feeling overmatched, but Rojas otherwise has shown himself to be a player who makes good decisions at the plate, with positive in-zone contact rates and chase rates. On the whole, his walk rate is down a bit as compared to past seasons, but this drop was not accompanied by an increase in his strikeout rate, highlighting that the drop was caused by successfully putting bat-on-ball more rather than something negative. He has shown no particular platoon splits and is just as capable of hitting velocity as he is hitting breaking and off-speed pitches.
Defensively, Rojas has all the tools to stick in the infield, though where exactly he ultimately fits best differs between evaluators. He does not possess the dynamic athleticism of a quick-twitch athlete, with below-average reaction times and first steps, but is able to cover for that to a degree thanks to an average-to-above-average arm that is accurate and is capable of making throws from multiple angles. He has soft hands, quick transfers, and good footwork around the bag. At shortstop, Rojas can perform adequately for now, but the position is unlikely to be his long-term home because of his deficiencies. At third base, his reaction times, first step, and arm may be stretched, making second base a likely permanent landing spot for him.
Ben Simon
Week: 2 G (0 GS), 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K (Triple-A)
2026 Season: 14 G (0 GS), 15.1 IP, 12 H, 8 R, 4 ER (2.35 ERA), 5 BB, 18 K, .262 BABIP (Double-A) / 33 G (1 GS), 40.1 IP, 37 H, 18 R, 18 ER (4.02 ERA), 16 BB, 19 K, .250 BABIP (Triple-A)
This has really been a frustrating week, in terms of pitching performances. With the Syracuse Mets the only team still playing, the pool to select from is limited. Further muddying the waters, Syracuse had multiple bullpen games this week, making it harder for any one individual to stand out and shine. Of the starting pitchers toed the rubber, most were uninspired, and the majority of the relievers who were used had similar stat lines: a hit or two, maybe a walk, with most allowing a run or so and virtually nobody recording an impressive strikeout total. In perhaps the weakest showing of a Pitcher of the Week ever, Ben Simon is our winner.
Simon was drafted out of Elon University in the 2023 MLB Draft, the 396th overall pick. The Princeton native, who grew up rooting for the Mets, pitched for the Phoenix all three years he attended the university, posting a cumulative 5.20 ERA in 88.1 innings, allowing 95 hits, walking 36, and striking out 103 batters over the course of 56 games. After being drafted by the Mets, he pitched a few cursory innings that year, but his professional career began in earnest in 2024.
Assigned to the High-A Brooklyn Cyclones, the right-hander spent the entire season in Coney Island. Appearing in 22 games, spending about a month-and-a-half on the injured list, he posted a 4.04 ERA in 35.2 innings, allowing 34 hits, walking 11, and striking out 35. The Mets had him stay in Brooklyn when the 2025 season began, and he spent about three-quarters of the year there, posting a 3.86 ERA in 37.1 innings over 27 games with 32 hits allowed, 13 walks, and 40 strikeouts. In August, he was promoted to Double-A Binghamton and finished the season there, appearing in 11 games and posting a 1.06 ERA in 17.0 innings with 12 hits allowed, 5 walks, and 20 strikeouts.
That Spring, the right-hander pitched for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic, and when he returned to the Mets, the organization had the right-hander begin the season with the Rumble Ponies. Simon was used heavily by manager Michael Collins and appeared in 14 games with them, posting 2.35 ERA in 15.1 innings, allowing 12 hits, walking 5, and striking out 18. At the end of May, the 24-year-old was promoted to Triple-A Syracuse and finished the season with them, appearing in 33 games and posting a 4.02 ERA in 40.1 innings, allowing 37 hits, walking 16, and striking out 19.
Simon, who is listed at 5’11”, 200-pounds, throws from a three-quarters arm slot with a long arm action through the back. Earlier in his career, he fell off to the first base side of the rubber hard after delivering the ball, but no longer does. The right-hander is a three-pitch pitcher, throwing a four-seam fastball, gyro slider, and changeup. His fastball and slider account for nearly 95% of his pitch mix, sprinkling in his changeup here and there.
His fastball sits in the mid-to-high-90s, averaging 96 MPH and topping out as high as 98.6 MPH. With an average spin rate of 2,420 RPM, the pitch gets roughly 15 inches of induced vertical break, more or less league average, and roughly 12 inches of horizontal movement, an above-average number for a four-seam fastball and closer in behavior to a two-seam fastball. Despite the movement, Triple-A batters hit .264/.321/.458 against it with an 18.2% whiff rate.
His slider sits in the mid-to-high-80s, averaging 87.5 MPH. The 2,350 RPM he averages with the pitch gives it about three inches of glove-side slice. International League batters hit .176/.306/.294 against it with a 26.3% whiff rate, making it his best pitch by far.
His changeup sits in the mid-to-high-80s, averaging 88 MPH. The pitch has an above-average amount of run coupled with a bit of tumble, but overall, it fooled few batters, who hit .300/.333/.450 against it with a 7.9% whiff rate.
